Tort or Crime

Tort or Crime

In Chapter 1 of the text you read about the Bailey v. Eminem defamation case where the court held Eminem’s lyrics were protected by the First Amendment. Read the article and view the video (the links are listed under Week 1 Additional Learning Resources Required and Week 1 Multimedia Required) to the Pahler v. Slayer case. Respond to the following questions:

1.    Did the Pahler court use the same reasoning as used in Bailey v. Eminem?

2.    Should the court’s decision in Pahler be different because a young girl was murdered?

3.    Recall the difference between a crime and a tort. Based on these two cases, analyze and discuss whether artists should be held liable for the actions of their fans.

solution preview

Music is a major form of communication and causes substantial societal disorder if passed wrongly. Comparing the case of Bailey V Eminem and Pahler’s court decision, there were two major differences between the two cases. Incitement is a major offense and can be classified as a hate speech. Based on facts on both cases, it can be argued that Pahler court did not use the same reasoning that was used in Bailey V Eminem. In addition, the court’s decision in Pahler should have been different because not only a young

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