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Online abuse

Hellooo
(edited 3 years ago)
Why are you asking the question? I take it nothing actually happened?
Umm no, because it wasn't reported... I mean you answered your own question.

Could they do something years after the fact? Maybe, if there was a proven account that they would act on what is written but since you're talking about something that happened years ago I think there's a law that says they can't act on evidence that is x years old as it would be unreliable.
Reply 3
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rbhrt_
4
I mean. The kind of person someone is 9 years ago is nothing like what they are now. I’m sure he just said something stupid because he was a stupid kid. I don’t expect the police would do a lot.
Reply 4
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rbhrt_
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If the woman really wants to she could report it all anonymously online. I’m not saying they wouldn’t investigate. I suppose there’s no harm in mentioning it if that would help her with closure. Just make sure the woman is the one who wants to report it.
Under the act it says you have to had two incidents by the same group or person for it to be considered harassment so the likely chance you're going to get a case from a young person, that happened 9 years ago is very unlikely: but unless as people have said is not only reported by the person who received it nothing will happen.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/law-and-courts/discrimination/taking-action-about-discrimination/taking-action-about-harassment/

However, since you asked (taken from citizensadvice.org.uk):

When can you take civil court action about harassment?
If you’ve been the victim of harassment you can take action in the civil courts against the person harassing you.

You need to make your claim within six years of when the harassment happened.

You can still take civil court action even if the person harassing you hasn’t been found guilty of a criminal offence.
it was nine years ago, leave it be
Original post by AspiringPC
So basically time has ran out for the person to report and police would do nothing ?


Can I just ask, were you that person?? Your sounding sus as hell
They can file for civil action but again, I don't expect there to be a case for such a thing to take seriously since whomever has been harassed hasn't taken action within the bounds of what is considered reasonable law-wise, I am not a lawyer but I can see that the evidence that you would supply wouldn't be considered worth investigating since it would a crime that took place above the 6 years and again, you seem to be avoiding the obvious question which is whether or not you are the victim of the harassment - if you aren't then I suggest you stop seeking out legal advice as you'd only be harming the victim's case by involving yourself in a matter that isn't your own.
Are you just asking hypothetically? Or do you seriously intend to mess this person's life up over an immature puberty-fuelled comment 9 years ago?
Original post by AspiringPC
No I’m just asking hypothetically if the person was 14 and it was years ago if the police wouldn’t anything about it now if it was to be reported

Police involvement has to be within reasonable bounds for a case to be taken seriously: it wouldn't be appropriate for an adult to be arrested over "harassment" that happened 10 years ago - what would most likely have happened if it was reported earlier that the xbox account would had been suspended and the police may or maynot have contacted the child's parents to let them know that they had been abusing other people online and may get told that their child have to attend youth court in regards to this depending on how offensive we're talking - death threats, blackmail, etc.

Of course, this is all hypothetical speaking and I have no actual knowledge of a child that has been taken to court over something as petty as what I consider trash talk via an xbox live account. I don't think that it would lead to legal action unless they had done it frequently to warrant it to be considered harassment as one odd message from what could be a random account is not enough to be convicted a criminal but it would be enough to get your xbox privileges revoked and maybe told off by the child's parents if they ever found out.
(edited 4 years ago)
Original post by AspiringPC
No I’m just asking hypothetically if the person was 14 and it was years ago if the police wouldn’t anything about it now if it was to be reported

Ohh fair enough
Original post by AspiringPC
I see. Basically then police would no nothing about it now as it’s been too long and also if the young teen got reported when he sent the threat he’d have had a good telling off at the most and wouldn’t go to prison

Exactly: you can't just convict people unless they had intent to solicit abuse: trash talk is one thing, threatening to break in or share indecent images without permission is another: the police won't act on minor threats that don't mean anything: it's got to be serious for them to get involved. Not that I'm saying cyber bullying isn't serious: but if it's just out of the blue and infrequent I doubt they'd just arrest anyone on the spot just for that one random outburst.
(edited 4 years ago)
Original post by AspiringPC
So they really wouldn’t care about a rape threat sent years ago by a child ?

Not if they don't find anything written there a "serious" threat - they don't arrest children unless they think they will actually act upon it you'd be surprised how common Youtubers get sent these rape threats and only a handful actually get convictions. Online abuse is very common and if the police had to arrest every single person that sent one we'd have prisons filled with more teenagers than actual rapists. Which wouldn't look good for the law or the people that we were supposedly protecting because then people would fear they could be thrown in prison for "thought crimes".
(edited 4 years ago)
Original post by AspiringPC
Not they don’t find anything written there a serious threat” what does that mean sorry I’m not the brightest ?

When a child writes a threat they usually aren't written very maturely: any adult reading it would be able to tell this is just a cry for attention and not worth investigating - it's only if it's written with intent: actually threatening the victim by telling them their address or some sort of follow up to the initial threat will it be worth police time: they won't arrest individuals if it reads like it's passive aggressive they only act on something that shows intent: motive and reasonable claim that the victim is under threat.

Ergo, police only go after people that they think will cause actual harm towards the victim - they can't go out on bad evidence or just make arrests on "gut instinct" there has to be a reasonable motive for them to make the arrest else you arrest a child: find out they didn't mean it and waste police time by doing so: kids aren't usually high priority unless they're known offenders or show signs that they could be a danger. This is why parents are involved in protecting their children and are told to teach them about the dangers of sharing the wrong information online, etc - it's not only to safeguard their personal data but to protect them from predatory behavior and bullying. I was given a talk by police officers at both my high school and my university of the dangers of not securing my privacy online: so has everyone just about.
(edited 4 years ago)
Why would you bring this up now if it happened 9 years ago? This classmate probably moved on from it.
Original post by ayyyy.x
Why would you bring this up now if it happened 9 years ago? This classmate probably moved on from it.

They're thinking hypothetically, nothing wrong with it generally though it could had be worded better from the initial post as everyone seems to have dog piled it thinking it's a serious question from a victim.
Original post by AspiringPC
So basically they’d only arrest a person if the they felt the crime in which was said to the person was going to be carried out so all the years that have passed it obviously wasn’t a serious threat and they wouldn’t do a thing about it now ?

Pretty much, police realize these people are just as human as they are: not saying they haven't arrested kids for smaller pettier reasons but they simply wouldn't make an arrest without good reason these days, it's a lot of paperwork to fill out and they don't want to risk filling it out if it turns out it's just another "just a prank bro" the less time spent on kids that can barely spell the rape the better.

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