Simon & Schuster v. Members of the New York State Crime Victims Board 1991

• Author: Daniel Brannen, Richard Hanes, Elizabeth Shaw
• Pages: 242-247

Contenidos

• Son of Sam.
• Wiseguy.
• Wise Justices.
• Son of son of Sam.
• Suggestions for further reading.

Page 242

Petitioner: Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Respondents: Members of New York State Crime Victims Board, et al.

Petitioner's Claim: That New York's Son of Sam law, which required criminals to forfeit money made from stories about their crimes, violated the First Amendment freedom of speech.

Chief Lawyer for Petitioner: Ronald S. Rauchberg

Chief Lawyer for Respondents: Howard L. Zwickel, Assistant Attorney General of New York

Justices for the Court: Harry A. Blackmun, Anthony M. Kennedy, Sandra Day O'Connor, William H. Rehnquist, Antonin Scalia, David H. Souter, John Paul Stevens, Byron R. White

Justices Dissenting: None (Clarence Thomas did not participate)

Date of Decision: December 10, 1991

Decision: New York's Son of Sam law violated the First Amendment by limiting speech too much.

Significance: The Court emphasized that, except in rare cases, laws that limit speech based on its content violate the First Amendment.

Page 243

Son of Sam

From 1976 through the summer of 1977, David Berkowitz committed a series of murders in New York City. In a letter to the police before he was caught, Berkowitz called himself the Son of Sam. After Berkowitz was caught, he planned to sell his story for publication. New York did not think Berkowitz should be allowed to profit from his story while his victims and their families went without payment for their injuries.

To stop Berkowitz, New York passed a statute called the Son of Sam law. The law required anyone who published a criminal's story to give payment for the story to the Crime Victims Board instead of to the criminal. The board would hold the money to pay any victims who sued the criminal and won. If no victim filed a lawsuit for five years, the board would return the money to the criminal.

Wiseguy

Henry Hill was part of an organized crime family in New York. In a twenty-six-year career that ended with his arrest in 1980, Hill committed

Murderer David Berkowitz (Son of Sam) was the reason for the controversial New York law. Reproduced by permission of AP/Wide World Photos.

Page 244

robberies, extortion, and drug deals. After his arrest, Hill entered the federal witness protection program. The program allowed Hill to avoid prosecution for his crimes by testifying against his former partners.

In August 1981, author Nicholas Pileggi agreed to write a book about Hill's life. Hill and...