No Habitual Swearing Around Your Kids in New Jersey:
N.J. Stat. Ann. § 9-6-1 provides that, "Abuse of a child shall consist" of, among other things, "the habitual use by the parent or by a person having the custody and control of a child, in the hearing of such child, of profane, indecent or obscene language." § 9-6-3 makes such abuse a crime.
Related Posts (on one page):
- Oddly Enough, Speech Restrictions in America Did Not Begin with the Modern Multiculturalist Left:
- No Habitual Swearing Around Your Kids in New Jersey:
Is the punishment burning a hole in the blasphemer's tongue with a red hot poker?
DO NOT BRING THIS CRAP WITH YOU.
WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE?
Tiocfaidh ar la!
- Hush-hush in Hoboken
But, hey, it's all for the children. The Village has to start raising them sometime, and you might as well not let a good crisis go to waste.
Is this constitutional?
To the extent that this occurs in the home, Stanley v. Georgia seems to me to be on point. If the state cannot crminalise the possession of obscenity (which is a 1st A exception) in one's home, a fortiori it cannot criminalise the uttering of offensive language in the home.
Under Cohen v. California, the state cannot criminalise the mere use of a swear word without more. Does the presence of a chld and the habitual use satisfy that requirement of "more" so that the speech may be proscribed? Do parent's have reduced free speech rights around their children? There seem to be some custody cases involving bans on a parent saying various things to a child that seem to take this view, but I agree with you that they seem rather dubious. The Supreme Court does not seem to have ever held that parents have reduced free speech rights when around their children.
This sort of situation does not seem to me to be a very strong case for a 1st A exception. I don't think the law could satisfy strict scrutiny as a content-based restriction.
Thus it seems to me that this law should be unconstitutional.
Has anybody been prosecuted under this statute and challenged its constitutionality? How about defective as a criminal statute for lack of precision as to the exact meaning of "habitual"?
If Eminem tries to raise his kids and Jersey and uses profanity around them. I'm pretty sure it would be on you if you plunked the kids down in front of the TV and let them watch Eminem for hours. As it should be; it's not Eminem's job to raise your kids.
The law however, is fucking retarded.
</blockquote>I don't know what evidence you have that more New Yorkers (city or state?) have migrated to NJ than people from other states, or that those who have done so have had a pernicious effect on the Garden State. But I believe the reason most often given for why NJ is such a high tax state is that the place is divided up into an incredible number of townships and other entities, with much duplication of services and other inefficiencies as a result. (At one time, taxes probably had to be higher to serve corruption, something like a Soprano effect. But if that were most of the explanation for high taxes, then Rhode Island would probably be way ahead of NJ in tax rates.)
To continue OT, Maryland raised its relatively high state income tax rate still higher and some are saying the result has been high income people moving out of Maryland or declaring second homes elsewhere (e.g., FL, where no state income tax) as their principal residences. The state disputes that claim, saying that the decrease in the number of people reporting $1M+ incomes does not reflect migration of those who had that much income moving, but rather substantial numbers of them still residing in Maryland and falling to lower income levels. Anyway, the higher taxes are something to swear about, though of course not in front of impressionable children even with no law against it (to my knowledge).
Anyone know of data to show effect of high state tax rates on choice of where to locate or re-locate? How often do those leaving CA for other parts cite state and local taxes as their reason for out-migration?
No.
Actually not so. Most taxes in NJ go to pay and benefits for state employees and teachers, both groups have a hammerlock on the state legislature. Town taxes are far less than either state or school taxes. For Pete's sake, a town can't even vote down a school budget anymore -- if they do, a state "arbiter" will override.
Kids learn that curse words are just words, and have no fetishistic or totemic power.
They learn by example the times and places when such free and open expression is inappropriate, and with whom.
Most importantly, kids learn that when no words are off limits, neither is any conversation on any topic off limits.
And there really isn't any harm that could come to these family members by such casual use of "naughty" words, so clearly it's up to the family to decide anyway.
I guess one negative might be that the parents also don't teach alternative words people can use to potently get a point across.
Of course, I completely ignore the bluenoses for whom any use of the diction in question is somehow destructive of the human spirit or an affront to the Language itself. They're just words, people.
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