Your Saved Resources Close

  • Saved resources will appear here

Share

State Domestic Terrorism Laws in the United States: A Growing Threat to First Amendment Rights

Although political violence in the United States is a real problem, state domestic terrorism laws are arguably unnecessary. Indeed, federal policymakers have resisted enacting a specific crime of domestic terrorism, in part because of First Amendment concerns. In prominent cases of mass violence, such as the Oklahoma City Bombing, the Boston Marathon Bombing, or the church shooting in Charleston, the federal government successfully convicted the perpetrators without needing terrorism charges. Instead, they relied on a variety of laws that already criminalize violence. Besides being arguably unnecessary, state domestic terrorism laws can cause serious unintended consequences.

As this report will show, the overbroad and vague provisions of state domestic terrorism laws create significant First Amendment and free expression concerns. Read full report here.

more
resources

Assessing Risk Toolkit

This mini toolkit is intended to guide left movement groups through building a risk assessment for an event, action, or...

AI & Prosecution: Mapping the Current and Future Roles of Artificial Intelligence in Prosecution

This report—which relies on an extensive literature review and interviews with prosecutors around the country—begins to catalog current AI uses...

Police Robots: A Policy Framework

This is a policy framework for police use of robots, including ground robots and unmanned aerial vehicles (“UAVs”), also known...