Prisoners not allowed on Facebook after taunting victims’ families

Chris Spags Founder and Editor

After killing someone, you would think that you would have done enough damage to a person’s family. But apparently not in the case of several UK prisoners who also went on Facebook to taunt their victims’ families. It’s finally safe to say that murderous criminals are, in fact, jerks.

“We’ve made requests for the removal of 30 sites and they’ve responded to do that positively, with no single refusal,” [Justice Secretary Jack Straw] said.

Mr Straw was talking after meeting families who claimed their loved ones’ killers were taunting them via the internet.

A man who murdered a 16-year-old boy in London reportedly wrote on Facebook that he was “down but not out” and added that he wanted a remote control so he could “mute or delete people when I need to”.

On another page, a prisoner boasted that he would be home one day “and I can’t wait to look into certain people’s eyes and see the fear of me being there”.

Yeah, so this is pretty much not okay. I’m all for basking in your accomplishments when you achieve a long-term goal, but when that goal involved shanking a guy a over an ounce of coke, you may want to keep your joy to yourself.

That said, I really think this is Facebook and the victims’ fault. It’s pretty much established that a guy who’d murder someone isn’t what most of us would consider a “good guy,” so why friend him in the first place, victims? And Facebook, I blame you too. Sure you’ve done a great job making connecting to others accessible. But maybe you shouldn’t allow people to send a knife as a “gift” or perhaps you should ban the “I Killed Your Loved One and Now Want to Remind You of It…Also: I Sent You a Hug!” application.

Door shut on prisoner Facebook taunts [ABC.net.au]

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