The First Amendment

The Simon and Schuster, Inc. v. New York State Crime Victims Board was a case that was had in the Supreme Court to determine if the Son of Sam’s law violated the first amendment. The case arose after Simon and Schuster, Inc. entered into a contract with a criminal by the name of Henry Hill (Coffin, 1993). The Son of Sam’s law requires that all proceeds obtained by the criminal from sharing their story be put in an escrow account and be used to compensate all victims of his crimes and their families. The money involved included all monies that were obtained from selling books, movies, and so on through the aiding of the criminal.

The court found Sam’s law to violate the first amendment for various reasons. First, the law required that monies obtained by sharing certain content be withheld. In this regard, the law was in some way preventing the communication of such information and thereby violating the first amendment. Second, the funds being withheld were only those obtained from sharing such information and not any other form of income. Finally, the law is not targeted narrowly at to compensate crime victims. It also covers all individuals who accept in their works to have committed a crime regardless of whether they have been convicted (Neumann, 2002).

The case was important for the notoriety-for-profit laws as is led to the amendment of Sam’s law so that the money that would be put in the escrow account would be that which was obtained from criminal activities. This amendment led to the removal of the three areas which had been contested in the case. All monies that are obtained through criminal activities are however withheld. A court ruling is therefore required to determine if the money is obtained through criminal activities.

Coffin, E. B. (1993). Constitutional law: content-based regulations on speech: a comparison of the categorization and balancing approaches to judicial scrutiny — Simon & Schuster, Inc. v. New York State Crime Victims Board, 112 S. Ct. 501 (interim ed. 1991). University Of Dayton Law Review, 18593.

Neumann, K. (2002). Criminal justice and law enforcement issues. New York: Nova Science Publishers.