Peggy Wright reports:
A 41-year-old woman was admitted today into a special probation program and agreed to undergo a psychological evaluation to resolve a charge of creating a scathing Facebook profile in the name of a Parsippany police detective.
Without admitting to the charge of identity theft, Dana Thornton, formerly of Belleville, was accepted by Superior Court Judge David Ironson into Morris County’s Pre-Trial Intervention program for first-time offenders.
Thornton will be supervised on probation for 12 months. She must perform 50 hours of community service and submit to a psychological evaluation and follow any recommendations for counseling.
Read more on The Daily Record.
I can’t help but compare this case to the Dharun Ravi case. Both this woman and Ravi were first-time offenders. Both engaged in online conduct that could have made people feel embarrassed or harassed – or that could have harmed reputations.
One – the older one, who should presumably know better – gets probation. The younger one risks a 10-year prison term because his motivation wasn’t revenge for a personal break-up but presumably bias.
Does this seem equitable to you?
Does it seem equitable? No, not really. Now here’s the part that’s going to really bake your noodle: If the target of her profile were not a current police Detective, would she have been prosecuted at all, or would it have instead been a not-so-friendly call from the police saying, “Knock it off,” with threat of a restraining order if she persisted?
that comparison makes no sense, the cases arent similar at all.
this women made a fake profile page specifically to embarass, harass, and destroy the reputation of her ex boyfiend
ravi filmed once and attempted to film a second time while broadcasting to his social group a sexual encounter of his roommates after giving a verbal agreement to that roommate that he could have privacy in their room for the nights.
big difference