PPEcel
cope and seethe
★★★★★
- Joined
- Oct 1, 2018
- Posts
- 29,095
A Discordcel alerted me to the following post on Reddit.
View: https://www.reddit.com/r/IncelTear/comments/r0ncwt/dept_of_justice_makes_settlement_with_parkland/
Essentially, this Redditor suggests that the DOJ's recent settlement with the Parkland families, whose kids were killed when Nikolas Cruz went ER in February 2018, means law enforcement will crack down on incels.is. It itself admits that it is engaging in wishful thinking, but let me explain in detail why its post is laughably stupid. Two main points:
The FBI's Public Access Line
Here's how the FBI Tip Line works: every time a person calls 1-800-CALL-FBI, or submits a tip on tips.fbi.gov, the information is handled by the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Division, located in West Virginia. An FBI employee reviews the tip, and if it is actionable, forwards the tip to a field office.
Prior to Cruz's shooting, the CIJS Division received two tips about Cruz. The details can be found here:
Long story short, the information never reached the FBI Miami Field Office because of a decision tantamount to a clerical error. In response to their failure to prevent the Parkland shooting, the FBI implemented the following changes to its CIJS Division in mid/late-2018:
But you know what hasn't changed and won't? The First and Fourth Amendments. As I've mentioned repeatedly, U.S. law distinguishes between the mere advocacy or justification of violence, and true threats (i.e. requiring that the government prove subjective, not objective intent). What deranged Redditors describe as "violent threats" are often the former, not the latter.
The U.S. Department of Justice was likely to win this case
The Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), amended by the Federal Employees Liability Reform and Tort Compensation Act, allows individuals to seek damages from the federal government should a federal employee cause a violation whilst performing their duties. As such, the Parkland families made claims, alleging wrongful death, inter alia, given the FBI's failure to follow up on the two tips regarding Nikolas Cruz. This lawsuit was brought under the FTCA; as such, the standard by which the wrongful death claim is adjudicated would have been based on Florida state law.
To determine a defendant's civil liability in a wrongful death claim, it's important to understand "proximate cause"; that is, there must be a sufficient causal relationship between the defendant's actions and the plaintiff's injury. It is for this reason that a Florida state court dismissed the Parkland families' lawsuit against the Broward County School Board, because proximity was lacking:
The U.S. government noted as much in the current case just last month:
Why would the DOJ settle for $127 million if they were going to win, you ask? Simple answer: politics. They could drag this case out with years of appellate review, but the optics of soulless lawyers from D.C. crushing a group of dead kids' parents would suck. The Biden administration probably realized that they're kind of unpopular right now with suburban parents, and considering Florida is a battleground state, someone in the White House probably realized that settling the case would win some goodwill ahead of the midterms. $127 million is a lot of money for most organizations, but that constitutes just 0.04% of the DOJ's $30+ billion annual budget.
This Redditor hopes that this settlement will spur law enforcement into action against incels. But as mentioned above, this case doesn't show the DOJ that the FBI can be successfully sued for wrongful death for "failure to protect". Even if the Parkland families prevailed, it would hardly affect states whose laws w.r.t. to wrongful death claims are more defendant-friendly.
On a side note, case law has previously held that police inaction is not a viable civil rights claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. In Castle Rock v. Gonzales (2005), the based Supreme Court ruled against a mother who sued a police department for not enforcing a domestic violence restraining order, leading to the deaths of her three children.
TL/DR:
View: https://www.reddit.com/r/IncelTear/comments/r0ncwt/dept_of_justice_makes_settlement_with_parkland/
Essentially, this Redditor suggests that the DOJ's recent settlement with the Parkland families, whose kids were killed when Nikolas Cruz went ER in February 2018, means law enforcement will crack down on incels.is. It itself admits that it is engaging in wishful thinking, but let me explain in detail why its post is laughably stupid. Two main points:
The FBI's Public Access Line
Here's how the FBI Tip Line works: every time a person calls 1-800-CALL-FBI, or submits a tip on tips.fbi.gov, the information is handled by the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Division, located in West Virginia. An FBI employee reviews the tip, and if it is actionable, forwards the tip to a field office.
Prior to Cruz's shooting, the CIJS Division received two tips about Cruz. The details can be found here:
Summary and Timeline Related to Parkland Shooting Investigation — FBI
Statement by Acting Deputy Director David Bowdich before the House Judiciary Committee
www.fbi.gov
Long story short, the information never reached the FBI Miami Field Office because of a decision tantamount to a clerical error. In response to their failure to prevent the Parkland shooting, the FBI implemented the following changes to its CIJS Division in mid/late-2018:
- renaming the Public Access Line to the National Threat Operations Center
- regular refresher training and briefings for employees
- grouping employees in 8 to 10 to foster collaboration with specially trained examiners and supervisors
- requiring a supervisory special agent to review potentially actionable tips
But you know what hasn't changed and won't? The First and Fourth Amendments. As I've mentioned repeatedly, U.S. law distinguishes between the mere advocacy or justification of violence, and true threats (i.e. requiring that the government prove subjective, not objective intent). What deranged Redditors describe as "violent threats" are often the former, not the latter.
The U.S. Department of Justice was likely to win this case
The Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), amended by the Federal Employees Liability Reform and Tort Compensation Act, allows individuals to seek damages from the federal government should a federal employee cause a violation whilst performing their duties. As such, the Parkland families made claims, alleging wrongful death, inter alia, given the FBI's failure to follow up on the two tips regarding Nikolas Cruz. This lawsuit was brought under the FTCA; as such, the standard by which the wrongful death claim is adjudicated would have been based on Florida state law.
To determine a defendant's civil liability in a wrongful death claim, it's important to understand "proximate cause"; that is, there must be a sufficient causal relationship between the defendant's actions and the plaintiff's injury. It is for this reason that a Florida state court dismissed the Parkland families' lawsuit against the Broward County School Board, because proximity was lacking:
There is no foundation for the argument that if Cruz had been sent to a different program, and if he had been treated as a higher threat years before the incident, and if he had been criminally charged years earlier so he’d have been convicted and could not buy or own a gun, and if he had never been permitted to attend Marjory Stoneman Douglas, then he would not have been on this campus and would never have committed the crime.
In re: Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Case No. CACE190800000 at 3-4 (Fla. Cir. Ct. Feb. 8, 2021)
The U.S. government noted as much in the current case just last month:
Similarly in this action, Plaintiffs can demonstrate no more than a “mere possibility” that [the FBI]’s decision not to forward the information about Cruz to the Miami Field Office was a substantial factor in bringing about Cruz’s February 14, 2018, massacre.
IN RE: MARJORY STONEMAN DOUGLAS HIGH SCHOOL SHOOTING FTCA LITIGATION, Case No. 0:18-cv-62758-WPD (S.D.Fla. Oct. 10, 2021)
Why would the DOJ settle for $127 million if they were going to win, you ask? Simple answer: politics. They could drag this case out with years of appellate review, but the optics of soulless lawyers from D.C. crushing a group of dead kids' parents would suck. The Biden administration probably realized that they're kind of unpopular right now with suburban parents, and considering Florida is a battleground state, someone in the White House probably realized that settling the case would win some goodwill ahead of the midterms. $127 million is a lot of money for most organizations, but that constitutes just 0.04% of the DOJ's $30+ billion annual budget.
This Redditor hopes that this settlement will spur law enforcement into action against incels. But as mentioned above, this case doesn't show the DOJ that the FBI can be successfully sued for wrongful death for "failure to protect". Even if the Parkland families prevailed, it would hardly affect states whose laws w.r.t. to wrongful death claims are more defendant-friendly.
On a side note, case law has previously held that police inaction is not a viable civil rights claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. In Castle Rock v. Gonzales (2005), the based Supreme Court ruled against a mother who sued a police department for not enforcing a domestic violence restraining order, leading to the deaths of her three children.
TL/DR:
- Parkland shooter case lead to internal bureaucratic changes in the FBI, not legal changes
- No legal precedent that law enforcement is civilly liable for failing to prevent mass shootings
- Therefore, no "game changer"
Last edited: