united-kingdom england-and-wales mental-health legal-research research
Can a person be prosecuted for their thoughts?
<p>Let's assume I'm thinking about ___ <strong>[1]</strong> - am I liable to prosecution?</p>

<p>I assume that having thoughts of any kind is not illegal and therefore cannot be prosecuted. We are not in "Minority Report" - <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0181689/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0181689/</a> - situation just yet.</p>

<p>What happens if I express verbally or on Facebook or on my personal blog:</p>

<ul>
<li>I had thoughts about ___</li>
<li>I was thinking about ___</li>
</ul>

<p>Do these statements put me in a prosecutable position?</p>

<hr>

<p><strong>[1]</strong> Related question would be - how do I express my thoughts without fear of being prosecuted?</p>

<p>If I engage in a discussion with a doctor, a psychologist or a lawyer - privileged information kicks in - <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privilege_(evidence)" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privilege_(evidence)</a> - however in certain circumstances they are obliged by law to take action.</p>

<h3><strong>Is talking about <em>crossing the line</em> crossing the line?</strong></h3>

<p><em>(just like spammers sending a message asking me is it OK to send the actual spam)</em></p>

<p>Do I have to make a formal agreement with a chartered professional before privileged information applies? <em>(as opposed to an informal conversation during the research phase)</em></p>

<p>I would like to operate my language in a manner that would not put me vulnerable to misquotations and misinterpretations. Maybe there is a magic formula such as:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>I'm a young, healthy, reasonable individual who wants to discuss sensitive manner - I want to remind you about privileged information - I do not constitute a threat and you should rest assured.</p>
</blockquote>

<p><strong>Deep in my heart I would like to be able to communicate in public.</strong></p>

<p>I don't want to use public WiFi, VPN, virtual machine, TOR some darknet forums and fake identity if I could only say what I really think. I hope that this will happen but first I need to establish some fundamentals.</p>

<hr>

<p><strong>Can a person be prosecuted for their thoughts?</strong></p>

<hr>

<p>Related: </p>

<ul>
<li><a href="https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/536/if-i-live-in-the-us-can-i-be-prosecuted-for-answers-describing-illegal-activitie">If I live in the US can I be prosecuted for answers describing illegal activities?</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_free_speech_exceptions" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_free_speech_exceptions</a></li>
</ul>

<p>If you wrote for example "I had thoughts about taking the axe from my garage and decapitating my neighbour", and your neighbour read that, he would reasonably be worried and contact the police. I would take that as a death threat, and the death threat is by itself illegal. There would be some range where I could claim that you were making a death threat and making excuses to avoid legal responsibility. </p>

<p>You can have all the thoughs you like, you can write them into your private diary where nobody can read them, but as soon as you publish it, it becomes "speech" and some speech is illegal. </p>

<p>In the US, you can supposedly simply add a sentence opener such as "In my opinion..." or "I wish..." and that removes there being a statement of fact (with the first option) or intent of action (with the second). Though, it may be different under British law. </p>
