Prosecuted For Social Media

Should Individuals be prosecuted for statements made on social media? If individuals are prosecuted by the government for what they said online, then the government is violating the First Amendment to the Constitution. Although bullying can have very bad effects, it often is minimal and is not to extent that it would even be considered a federal offense. It should be the responsibility of school administration to stop it and to help the victim. In light of all this, I believe that individuals should not be prosecuted for statements made on social media.
If our government prosecutes individuals for statements made online, then they are taking away one of the inalienable rights that our forefathers fought -and that those today fight- to protect.

It would be unconstitutional for the government to regulate what can be said online. The rights given to us in the First Amendment of the Constitution are non-revocable. In the second source, Sacrificing the First Amendment to Catch “Cyberbullies”, it says, “...hurting someone’s feelings -even in real life -never justified criminal prosecution.” If our government does choose to prosecute cyber bullies, then they are taking away some the rights that are part of the reason we broke away from England. Becoming like the same tyrant that the English Monarchy was at that time.
If every person who made an inappropriate statement online was prosecuted and put in prison, then many more people would be filling our prisons. Prisons are for criminals who have done awful things. In most situations, bullying is something that, although it is bad, is not something that someone should be criminally prosecuted for. If a person was imprisoned for bullying, then being in prison could easily lead them to a life of crime once they are out of prison.
Students should not be prosecuted for cyberbullying. Instead it should be the school’s responsibility to deal with the problem. It is the job of the school’s to teach our students the academic skills needed to succeed in life. The schools should also be responsible for teaching certain social skills such as teaching students not to bully and also teaching students how to avoid potential cyberbullying situations online. If students were better equipped to avoid and handle situations like these. Then, when the situation arises, they would be able to cope with it better.
Many people say that cyber bullies should be prosecuted. They say that it can really be harmful to a victim and that cyber bullies need to be stopped by the government. Although cyberbullying can be harmful, it is not something that people should be imprisoned for. It should be the responsibility of the schools to educate and prepare student to deal with those kind of situations. There will always be unkind people in the world and we just have to learn to live with them.
In conclusion, people should not be prosecuted for statements made online. It would be unconstitutional, and unnecessary. Also it could cause the perpetrator to if convicted to continue doing illegal acts of greater magnitude. The schools should be responsible for ny behavior issues of that nature. As a result of all the reasons that I have given, individuals should not be prosecuted for statements made online.