In a continuing effort to scare people, mostly students, from posting pictures of them partying (or anything that might embarrass or compromise), I am posting this link of an unfortunate story. The full link to the story can be found by clicking on the title at the top.
Basically, a defendant in a DWI case received a harsher sentence because of pictures that were posted on a social networking site. The pictures help establish a pattern of risky behavior. Sometimes first time offenders receive much reduced sentences because they are a first time offender. That is, they have not established a pattern of poor judgement and behavior. This is done to differentiate between those that have just made a mistake from those that have a clear history of poor behavior and are in need of rehabilitation. I think the essence of this sotry is that the person in question received a stiffer sentence because a pattern of behavior was established by her history of related poor behavior. In other words, she had not been convicted of prior crimes, but her pictures served as evidence that showed a pattern of related poor behavior. Very unfortunate, but also a very interesting discussion topic.
This of course, goes back to my hope to educate people to be very mindful and careful of the information that you post. The internet is an open, voyeuristic medium--the information you choose to share could potentially be shared with anyone...including schools, potential employers, even the courts!
No comments:
Post a Comment