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Hate speech

University of Baltimore Law

Articles 1 - 4 of 4

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To Stimulate, Provoke, Or Incite? Hate Speech And The First Amendment, Kenneth Lasson Jan 1991

To Stimulate, Provoke, Or Incite? Hate Speech And The First Amendment, Kenneth Lasson

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If protecting freedom of speech is one of mankind's noblest pursuits, then restricting it is the most difficult. Yet limit we must: even the purest civil libertarian will concede that false shouts of fire cannot be countenanced nor broadcasts of wartime troop movements; even those who object to obscenity laws recognize the need for enabling redress of libel; and even those who would protect the right to be insulting do not defend inflammatory words spit out nose-to-nose. Now a spate of "speech codes" on college campuses has once again brought the first amendment to the fore, part of a simmering …


Some Words Are Injurious . . . Some Cause A Raging Storm, Kenneth Lasson Dec 1990

Some Words Are Injurious . . . Some Cause A Raging Storm, Kenneth Lasson

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No abstract provided.


Racial Defamation As Free Speech: Abusing The First Amendment, Kenneth Lasson Oct 1985

Racial Defamation As Free Speech: Abusing The First Amendment, Kenneth Lasson

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The traditional view of the first amendment's free speech guarantee as absolute, allowing few and narrow exceptions, reflects the Constitution's dedication to an open and unfettered exchange of ideas. Those thoughts that are abhorrent to a free society, the argument goes, will wither when aired but fester if suppressed. Moreover, who is to decide which ideas are offensive? The interests of the state may well be inferior to those of the people, the wisdom of public servants often suspect in quality and motivation. But freedom of speech is so precious and delicate a liberty it must be preserved at great …


In Defense Of Group-Libel Laws, Or Why The First Amendment Should Not Protect Nazis, Kenneth Lasson Apr 1985

In Defense Of Group-Libel Laws, Or Why The First Amendment Should Not Protect Nazis, Kenneth Lasson

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The author discusses group libel laws, and the underlying problems when free speech is used as a defense by those who would defame specific racial or ethnic groups and/or minorities. The topic is further explained in reference to various state laws, and the subsequent court cases extant at the time of the article's writing which defined the issue in terms of law. References are also made to such laws in countries other than the United States for the sake of comparison.