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Is this illegal?

Discussion in 'General Support and Advice' started by 3n, Sep 25, 2016.

  1. 3n

    3n Guest

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    So as a part of a movement, I am working to get a principal and vice principal at my old school fired. This is due to the negligence on their part of the massive and blatant bullying and homophobia problem that was present while I was enrolled there. I, and many students like me went to the principal and vice complaining of severe bullying and homophobia, most of the time with evidence (this evidence consisted of witnesses, audio recordings, and video from the school cameras). They said every time that they would "take care of it" or "look into it immediately", yet rarely any of the accused got suspensions for bullying (about 1 for every 30 cases resulted in something). In fact, most of the detentions were targeted at the innocent, in the rare case someone fought back.

    I'm filming a music video there to spread awareness and I organized multiple protests in order to get someone among school administrators to bloody listen for once. I'm getting multiple witnesses/victims (including me) to make a statement against the people who ran the hellhole known as a school as well.

    I'm afraid this "statement" will be seen as slander or libel. I'm going to do it anyway, even if it is seen as such, but could it be percieved as slander/libel (and would it be illegal if it was?)
     
  2. faustian1

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    Oh, I see you're 15, and you feel just about the same way I did being forced to go to the prison they called public schools.

    While I don't know much about Louisiana, I haven't found a school district yet that isn't willing to sue and sue and appeal and appeal with as many lawyer's fees as required to crush the opposition. The Blaine School District in the State of Washington, appealed a public disclosure verdict against them all the way to the State Supreme Court. On what issue? Over the $15 it would have cost to MAIL the records requested, rather than pick them up. The school district lost, but it cost them a quarter of a million dollars in attorney fees.

    This example shows that school districts often are the real experts, when it comes to bullying. They probably don't do anything about your complaints, due to professional courtesy.

    So here's my suggestion. Don't bother with your campaign. It'll be like pissing up a rope. BUT, can you find a way to get out of that school and find another one? Can you change where you are? Perhaps you've already done this--you said it was your "old school." If you're out of there and just want to do a political campaign--then go ahead. Just remember: If I had a choice between fighting with the Mafia and the local school district, I'd pick the Mafia every time.
     
  3. 3n

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    Well. Shit. *flips table*
     
  4. Wolfwing

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    I know pretty much nothing about U.S. law, but I'm pretty sure that if you say something bad about someone or somewhere and you can provide valid evidence, such as eyewitness testimony and video or audio recordings, you most likely can't get in trouble for slander. I think slander only applies if you make claims without evidence and refuse to provide evidence or you provide subpar and false evidence that can be easily disproved. Though I'm not a legal expert, so don't take what I said as truth and know that there's a good chance that some of what I said is wrong. So, if you're going to do anything, do it at your own discretion and understand the possible consequences that can occur. Also, it'd be best to research your specific state's laws on slander and just make your decision off that.
     
  5. I AM MEOW

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    Show it to your school district first.
     
  6. Gunsmoke

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    I don't really know anything about American law, but I agree with Wolfwing - as long as you can provide plenty of evidence then I don't think you're doing anything wrong. Actually, with any luck they'll be the ones getting in trouble for negligence.

    That said, you might need adult support. Without meaning to sound patronising, I really don't know if people will listen to teenagers (which really sucks, I know), so you'd do well to have widespread support that included statements from parents.
     
  7. killswitch0029

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    The idea itself doesn't seem as though it would be illegal. As long as you have evidence what you're doing should be deemed legal, but the audio recordings could be another issue. Depending on the laws where you live, taking recordings of a conversation without the consent of everyone involved could be considered illegal.
     
  8. Chip

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    What the law is and how people can act on it are two different things.

    In order to prove libel or defamation, then the statement being made has to be demonstrably false. So in that regard, telling something truthful isn't illegal and is protected.

    HOWEVER... if the people that are the subject of your video decide they don't like what you said, *and* they have the money to hire an attorney to take action against you, they can still file suit, which you (or in this case, your parents) would have to pay to defend. You would probably win, but it could still cost tens of thousands of dollars to defend.

    The likelihood they'd actually take action against you is pretty low, but it really depends on your (and your parents level of risk tolerance.

    Welcome to America and it's screwed up legal system. :slight_smile:
     
  9. BobObob

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    As far as legality, I think Chip is right. Making the video would be 100% legal, but the principle could, in principle, file a lawsuit against you if s/he really wanted to (although that's unlikely). However, in America, you can pretty much file a lawsuit against someone for any reason. Usually, the goal isn't to win a trial; It's to strongarm someone into a lawsuit.

    Some litigious jerk who make a living off of frivolous lawsuits. After a few years, and tens of thousands of dollars in lawyer fees, a judge finally accepted my father's lawyer's motion for summary judgement (which is basically a judge saying that even if everything the accuser alleges is true, the defendant still didn't do anything wrong). My father's friend, who was hit with an identical lawsuit by this predator, wasn't as lucky. He got a judge who didn't have a spine, and instead opted to send it to a trial instead of having a spine and dismissing it. Because his lawyer was weak and didn't want to go to trial, his lawyer talked him into a $30,000 settlement. The perpetrator got away with this because anyone can file a lawsuit, and it's easy for anyone who is familiar with the system to keep legally adding delays and demanding various things. This guy kept these delays going several years, all without a trial.

    That being said, I think it's pretty unlikely that you'd get in legal trouble for this. I think that filling a lawsuit against a former student.


    I hope you don't mind me changing the subject a bit, but very often when staff don't seem to be doing anything about bullying, there's sometimes more going on behind the scene. The following videos are by a teacher on the topic of bullying that I find interesting. In the second video around 4:40, he delves into things that staff often do to fight bullying behind the scene:

    [YOUTUBE]J_vJs0JHgJk[/YOUTUBE]

    [YOUTUBE]3U3ttl37Da4[/YOUTUBE]

    That said, negligence is often a problem.
     
    #9 BobObob, Sep 26, 2016
    Last edited: Sep 26, 2016