What's the line between ill wishes and threats?

[Dhara]

When the local hood says to the grocer, "Nice store. Shame if something happened to it," is that not a threat?

 

[Dhara]

For example, a three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit in Porter v. Ascension School District (2004) wrote:

“Speech is a true threat and therefore unprotected if an objectively reasonable person would interpret the speech as a serious expression of an intent to cause a present or future harm. The protected status of the threatening speech is not determined by whether the speaker had the subjective intent to carry out the threat; rather, to lose the protection of the First Amendment and be lawfully punished, the threat must be intentionally or knowingly communicated to either the object of the threat or a third person.”
What's The Line Between Ill Wishes And Threats?

 

[Dhara]

Tweeting a death threat, wishing someone dead, can result in a confusion of legal issues.

Someone made a video purportedly showing former President George Herbert Walker Bush making a throat-slashing gesture with his right hand at the GOP debate in Houston, Texas, on Thursday night, Feb. 25, 2016.

Since Bush’s son Jeb had already dropped out of the race, some say Bush’s throat slashing was a threat directed at Donald Trump.
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[Capstone]

Ill Wish: 'I hope your barber opts to shave your head with a cheese-grater at your next appointment.'

Threat: 'I'm going to shave your head with a cheese-grater.' / 'I'm going to see to it that your head is shaved with a cheese-grater.'

Also a Threat (Addressed to a Third Party): 'I'm going to shave X's head with a cheese-grater.' / 'I'm going to see to it that X's head is shaved with a cheese-grater.'

It's really more a matter of proof than anything else. And proof that a threat has been "intentionally or knowingly communicated to either the object of the threat or a third person" can only be separated from the ambiguity of interpretation when "the subjective intent to carry out the threat" has been explicitly stated.

 

[Capstone]

I think the most puzzling question indirectly raised by/in the Original Post...would involve why the hell it was posted in the Announcements and Feedback forum, though!

 

[OldLady]

For example, a three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit in Porter v. Ascension School District (2004) wrote:

“Speech is a true threat and therefore unprotected if an objectively reasonable person would interpret the speech as a serious expression of an intent to cause a present or future harm. The protected status of the threatening speech is not determined by whether the speaker had the subjective intent to carry out the threat; rather, to lose the protection of the First Amendment and be lawfully punished, the threat must be intentionally or knowingly communicated to either the object of the threat or a third person.”
What's The Line Between Ill Wishes And Threats?

I've seen people get Protection Orders slapped on someone who threatens, but I have never heard of a threatener being arrested. That happens?

 

[Dhara]

For example, a three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit in Porter v. Ascension School District (2004) wrote:

“Speech is a true threat and therefore unprotected if an objectively reasonable person would interpret the speech as a serious expression of an intent to cause a present or future harm. The protected status of the threatening speech is not determined by whether the speaker had the subjective intent to carry out the threat; rather, to lose the protection of the First Amendment and be lawfully punished, the threat must be intentionally or knowingly communicated to either the object of the threat or a third person.”
What's The Line Between Ill Wishes And Threats?

I've seen people get Protection Orders slapped on someone who threatens, but I have never heard of a threatener being arrested. That happens?

Apparently it does, but rarely. The guy in the article is seeing prison time for this.