Should PUBLISHERS be Held RESPONSIBLE for CONTENT?

Should publishing companies be held accountable for their content?

In Sept 1995 Lawrence Horn was tried for triple murder. He had hired a hit man named James Perry to kill his ex-wife, his quadriplegic daughter and the nanny.

This book is a product of a publishing company located in CO called Paladin Press. Paladin Press has over 50 murder related titles. A few are: How to make disposable silencers, How to strangle someone properly, A Guide to Changing Your Identity, How to Dispose of Dead Bodies, Acts of Terrorism: A How to Guide, etc.

So when this book was discovered at James Perry’s home it was a big deal. The media went crazy, airing parts of this book which are actually rather disturbing.

· AR-7 are a perfect gun when it comes to killing someone. They are light weight and easy to disassemble.
· Use a drill with a standard drill bit to obscure the guns serial numbers before committing a crime.
· Rat tail files are a perfect way to quietly pry open locked French doors.

And so on. It’s very graphic in detail.
The Defense’s main argument was Freedom of Speech. It is unconstitutional to make the book company pay the victims family. The Defense sited that authors like Fredrick Forsyth and Tom Clancy also produce publications that have story lines in which people get fake identifications, comit murder, run from the law and more.
Also, they reminded the judge of a similar case that took place in the late 60’s.

Regardless of all the efforts, the district court ruled in favor of Paladin Press.
An appeal was made and the case went to Supreme Court.

May 1999. Weeks before the Paladin Press trial was to begin, one of the centuries worst crimes took place. Two students in Columbine open fire on teachers and classmates. When their homes were searched, guess what turned up…PALADIN PRESS.

This worried the owner of the book company so he quietly agreed to settle out of court with the victims families for 2.2 million PLUS he agreed to stop selling the publication Hit Man.

So I ask you; Should Publishers be held responsible for their content?

MY OPINION: Yes. Publishers SHOULD be held responsible for their content. If you want to see this book for free & read it go here: http://ftp.die.net/mirror/hitman/ . It is clearly an instrument of the devil if placed in the wrong hands.
If you don’t plan to go to the web site, at least read what was posted on it about this particular case:

“In 1993, a triple murder was committed in Montgomery County by a man who was alleged to have used this book, Hit Man, as his guide. He was caught and convicted and sentenced to death. Wanting to profit from their loved one's murder, and realizing that the murderer himself was too poor to be worth suing, the family of those killed by the hit man sued Paladin Press, the publisher of the book Hit Man, saying Paladin Press "aided and abetted" the murder.
May 21, 1999, Paladin Press settled the case, giving the families of those killed by the hit man several million dollars, agreeing to destroy the remaining 700 copies of the book in their possession, and surrendering any rights they have to publish and reproduce the work. While the families were successful in profiting from their loved one's death, they have not been successful in stifling the book. With the surrender of the publishing rights by Paladin Press, the book has entered the public domain, and was published on the Internet at Overthrow.com in its entirety on May 22, 1999.
The book was initially published in 1983. 13,000 copies of the book are now in existence. There has only ever been one case where the book was associated with a crime, in that case the criminal had recently finished a lengthy prison sentence and had a history of prior violent crime. It is our opinion this book has never incited a murder, that the settlement of the Paladin Press case was wrong and forced by the insurance company, and that this book, and no book, should be banned. We invite the public to judge for themselves.
*
*
*
*
*
Want Another Great Debate?
Give Your Opinion on:
TEEN BOOT CAMPS
http://bloggerparty.com/teen_boot_camp_a_punishment_or_a_solution

Dreams Matter.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/user/6562/pchan_stockton.html

I disagree. Sure it's in bad taste to publish a book like that and maybe even morally it's not right, but freedom of press states that it is a right.

I'm sure a lot of these books are sold that don't lead to murder-but that stat probably can't be found.

If we start censoring books, then soon it's music, magazines, movies etc.

I mean really this is almost the same argument as "my kid played hours of grand theft auto and then went out and killed people" which is crap.

I'm not saying that it's not possible for the book to have had an affect on these people, but if it did, most likely they were unstable before the book, thus the book shouldn't be blamed for it-leagally.

Morally is a different story. But this country isn't based on it's morals.

a lot of these books are sold that don't lead to murder-but that stat probably can't be found.

probably not directly, but it's relatively easy to measure the number of titles of such books, and their sales, and compare those figures with statistics on the numbers of crimes depicted in those books that are committed. in Japan, books depicting violence of all sorts are common (animé and manga are loaded with them) yet the incidence of the crimes depicted is low. In America, the situation is reversed. the Japanese have (or at least had) very strict moral codes that enforced "you may look but you may not do". Most Americans would react, ahem, violently to the imposition of such codes. Consequently, IMO, the boundaries between fantasy and reality are famously blurred among We the People.

Effective censorship (and all cultures practice censorship - differences are in degree only) only exists from the bottom up - a general sense that "X is not cricket". When such censorship is in place, books depicting bombs and poisons might be published - but they will not sell.

Besides, if such volumes are available on the open market, I know where to look for them if I need to, I can track people using them through open sales figures etc. if I need to. If these things are banned (without removing the market for them; top-down censorship), I merely drive the trade underground, making it that much harder to identify and locate perpetrators.

to have laws changed so that this trash is not permitted in your country?? We already have terribly violent people all around the world and I find it reprehensible that such publishing is permitted. It is astounding.

My full appreciation to you for the painstaking effort.

Censoring will not work because, the censoring officials tend to be corrupt. Proscribing will not work becasue it gives indirect publicity to the book. People will buy more in black market to see what the book contains out of curiosity and also to practise.

Teachers have a role in shaping children into responsible citizens. Teachers and parents should sit together and workout solutions.

I understand what everybody is saying about censorship. I'm not arguing for every swear word to be removed from rap songs or for Larry Flint to stop selling Hustler. I could really care less about those issues, BUT I think that publishing material that is a how to guide for building pipe bombs, making silencers and disposing of dead bodies is just wrong.
I agree somewhat with Drake Bobby, but theres a gigantic difference between GTA and a book telling people how to murder someone.
I have a great example to prove my point.
When I was 14 my friend Brett had this publication. I don't remember the name ot it but it was a book that taught you how to make mini bombs and other things. We learned how to make Tennis Ball bombs. They're not really a big deal. But after reading how to do it we spent hours in his basement creating these little bombs because the freaking book told us how and we wanted to see if it worked.

Give Your Opinion on the HOTTEST DEBATES:
http://realitycheck.bloggerparty.com