Son of Sam laws Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Son of Sam laws are laws designed to keep criminals from profiting from their crimes by selling their stories to publishers. They authorize the state to seize all money earned from such a deal and use it to compensate the criminal's victims.The first such law was created in New York after the Son of Sam killings. It was enacted after rampant speculation about publishers offering large amounts of money for the serial killer's story. The law was invoked in New York ten times between 1977 and 1990, including once against Mark David Chapman.
Critics disputed the law on First Amendment grounds. Also, it was argued that it would take away the financial incentive for many criminals to tell their stories, some of which (such as the Watergate scandal) were of vital interest to the general public.
In 1991, lawyers for Simon and Schuster brought a lawsuit to the Supreme Court disputing New York's Son of Sam law. Their case involved the book Wiseguy, written by Nicholas Pileggi about ex-mobster Henry Hill and used as the basis for the film Goodfellas. In an 8-0 ruling, the court ruled the law unconstitutional. The majority opinion was that the law was overinclusive, and would have prevented the publication of such works as The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Thoreau's Civil Disobedience, and even The Confessions of Saint Augustine.
Though the New York law was struck down, many such laws still exist in other states, mostly because they are so rarely invoked. The Supreme Court ruling actually stated that Son of Sam laws could conceivably be constitutional, but only if written very carefully with regard to First Amendment concerns; most of the remaining Son of Sam laws are not.
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