Freedom to protest question

[kingcuppie]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? PA

I would like to know 2 things. whether or not i need a permit to stand in front of the courthouse in pittsburgh, pa and whether or not the signs i want to hold are legal or if they can be considered slanderous.

heres what i want to hold as my signs

INCARCERATION NATION: STOP WAREHOUSING AMERICA'S POOR!

JAIL IS TORTURE. COPS,JUDGES, and D.A.'s are TORTURERS!

MORE JOBS, FREE HEALTHCARE, LITERACY TRAINING, FREE COLLEGE, WILL LOWER VIOLENCE, NOT BUILDING MORE JAILS!

(it sadens me that the genral population doesnt understand or want to understand the ineffectiveness of prison as punishment due to its condescending puritan crazy beliefs when CLEALRY research has shown jail to be ineffective , read Stuart Henry, Ph.D "on th eeffectiveness of Prison as punishment")

SO DOES ANYONE KNOW THE ANSWER TO MY 2 questions??

 

[BOR]

1. The 1st AM will "generally" give you a right to protest, but since it is a courthouse, inquire inside to the Security chief.

2. You can NOT generally defame the government in this Country.

 

[Zigner]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? PA

I would like to know 2 things. whether or not i need a permit to stand in front of the courthouse in pittsburgh, pa and whether or not the signs i want to hold are legal or if they can be considered slanderous.

heres what i want to hold as my signs

INCARCERATION NATION: STOP WAREHOUSING AMERICA'S POOR!

JAIL IS TORTURE. COPS,JUDGES, and D.A.'s are TORTURERS!

MORE JOBS, FREE HEALTHCARE, LITERACY TRAINING, FREE COLLEGE, WILL LOWER VIOLENCE, NOT BUILDING MORE JAILS!

(it sadens me that the genral population doesnt understand or want to understand the ineffectiveness of prison as punishment due to its condescending puritan crazy beliefs when CLEALRY research has shown jail to be ineffective , read Stuart Henry, Ph.D "on th eeffectiveness of Prison as punishment")

SO DOES ANYONE KNOW THE ANSWER TO MY 2 questions??

Ahhh, another post to carry us through the weekend

 

[cyjeff]

I am really curious about your post.

Free healthcare? Free college education?

If these are free, how do you pay the educators and doctors?

If your answer is "the government pays from their magic bank that has all the money", you are a moron.

As for prison... did it ever occur to you that the reason for prison is NOT rehabilitation?

How about protecting the rest of us from those that prey on the innocent?

Me, I like animals locked up in cages. When they stop acting like animals, come back and we will chat.

 

[cyjeff]

Oh, and you misspelled "saddens" and "clearly" and "effectiveness".... but that probably goes to your health and/or education.

 

[kingcuppie]

cyjeff since u asked

cujeff, we are the richest country in the world, yet have the highest incarceration rate adn very high levels of violence. also, its not my OPINION that prison doesnt work as punishemnt, its SCIENTIFIC FACT. look at all the research done on it. look up stuart henry PHD's research and countless others.
if our country just wants to keep solving the CRIME, and not focusing on fisixng the PROBLEM, which is high illiteracy rates and no free healthcare like canada france and englandnd have, then we all are at rick of being victims of violence/crime.

SO DOES ANYONE KNOW IF I CAN DO THIS PROTEST OR NOT???

 

[cyjeff]

cujeff, we are the richest country in the world, yet have the highest incarceration rate adn very high levels of violence. also, its not my OPINION that prison doesnt work as punishemnt, its SCIENTIFIC FACT. look at all the research done on it. look up stuart henry PHD's research and countless others.

Please refer to my previous "animals belong in cages" statement.

It isn't to help the criminals... it is because they have been deemed to much of a danger to live with the rest of us.

if our country just wants to keep solving the CRIME, and not focusing on fisixng the PROBLEM, which is high illiteracy rates and no free healthcare like canada france and englandnd have, then we all are at rick of being victims of violence/crime.

That's a very nice sentiment.

Why don't you open your wallet and pay for someone's healthcare and education, then?

The moment you open MY wallet to do it, I have a right to say no.

I say no.

(By the way, Canada, France and England all have crime. Apparently, free stuff isn't enough.)

SO DOES ANYONE KNOW IF I CAN DO THIS PROTEST OR NOT???

You got your answer... you just didn't like it.

For God's sake, learn how to spell.

 

[tranquility]

The government can place reasonable time, place and manner restrictions on speech. You would need to check local statutes to see if such activity is legal in the area you want to do it. The content is not the issue.

 

[justalayman]

cujeff, we are the richest country in the world, yet have the highest incarceration rate adn very high levels of violence. also, its not my OPINION that prison doesnt work as punishemnt, its SCIENTIFIC FACT. look at all the research done on it. look up stuart henry PHD's research and countless others.
if our country just wants to keep solving the CRIME, and not focusing on fisixng the PROBLEM, which is high illiteracy rates and no free healthcare like canada france and englandnd have, then we all are at rick of being victims of violence/crime.

SO DOES ANYONE KNOW IF I CAN DO THIS PROTEST OR NOT???

hasn't anybody ever told you nothing is free? Somebody has to pay for it.

and if the punishment we have doesn't deter, why do you think less punishment would be better? I think we need to go back to hard labor prisons.

along with being (maybe and arguably) the richest country in the world, we also have the greatest amount of freedoms of any country in the world. Having more freedoms means you are on the edge of crime a lot more. It is more difficult to prosecute crimes in our system than most others because we offer so many more protections for our citizens than any other country.

So, the freedoms we allow are really the basis for so much crime. If we had an extremely oppressive government where trials didn't have to be fair and we didn't have to be concerned with our Constitutional rights, it is much easier to reduce the crime rate.

So, which so you want; to be able to freely have your signs or to be arrested, beaten, and thrown in jail for having your signs.

 

[CdwJava]

cujeff, we are the richest country in the world, yet have the highest incarceration rate adn very high levels of violence. also, its not my OPINION that prison doesnt work as punishemnt, its SCIENTIFIC FACT. look at all the research done on it. look up stuart henry PHD's research and countless others.

Oh, you really don't want to enter into this debate ... and as a note, your position is not "scientific" fact, it is a theory. There are many opinions by many eminent scholars on all sides of the issue. A lot depends on what you cite as the goal of incarceration. If you claim it is for rehabilitation, you are correct - we often do not do enough. But, rehab is expensive and most of us taxpayers are not willing to pay for the costs of such rehabilitation (not to mention there is no clear proof that these programs work - hence the reason there are new theories rising and falling each decade). Most of the general public is satisfied to isolate the deviants from the rest of us. Whether this is the BEST policy or not is a matter of opinion.

if our country just wants to keep solving the CRIME, and not focusing on fisixng the PROBLEM, which is high illiteracy rates and no free healthcare like canada france and englandnd have, then we all are at rick of being victims of violence/crime.

There is no "free" health care, my friend. Those of us who work and pay taxes pay more and more for those freebies that you want to enjoy. My tax burden is rising while my income is dropping, all so others can enjoy their "free" services. Ask yourself what happens when all the people paying for these "free" programs are unemployed or decide that working just is not worth it any more? Who pays, then? And take a look at the effective tax rate in all those countries with "free" services, and you will find that they are taxed higher than we are and are often less productive.

SO DOES ANYONE KNOW IF I CAN DO THIS PROTEST OR NOT???

Your state may have specific rules concerning how far you can be from the entrance to a courthouse or some other entrance or egress. I suspect that if you confine your activities to a sidewalk, do not obstruct the walkway or harass passersby, you should be able to march up and down carrying a sign all you want. You might want to check with the courthouse security chief/supervisor and ask whether there are any restrictions for the activity you want to engage in. They will probably tell you that you cannot block the stairs or the doorway and you have to remain on the public walk, but it would be best to find out for sure so as to avoid any problems.