He's a pathetic person who went WAY too far, he definitely deserves jail time for what he did or he should at least have his internett access taken away. Cracking jokes is one thing, harrassing mourning families is another.

...But.

"He also posted a video on YouTube, entitled Tasha the Tank Engine, showing the children's character Thomas the Tank Engine with Miss MacBryde's face."

I admit that I laughed at this. I knew my sense of humour was sick but not that sick. xD

It's possible. Mandatory treatment and rehab shouldn't be just an option, but the first choice, whatever the degree of his guilt. And surveillance on him by doctors should be kept quite tight until he learns to spend his time in useful or at least not harmful ways. Maybe socially useful work could help him even if he was totally unwilling or unconscious to harm, if they find some job he likes.

It seems like a stretch to call that harrasment without any threat of physical harm.  Though then again, UK harrasment laws have been used to prosecute peaceful protesters... so I guess it's more an issue with the UK's batshit crazy laws in general...

I mean hell, how many people bash other people in public?  If repeated insulting of a girl who killed herself (who he had never met before hand) is harrasment, what's to say that repeatidly insulting the Prime Minister on national TV isn't harrassment?

That's not how Asperger syndrome works. Look it up online. They're perfectly capable of controlling their actions (they're at least perfectly capable of controlling what they post online), and they can't be 'cured'. Regarding your previous post, this guy had bullied other people in a similar fashion, which clearly shows a criminal pattern. He deliberately went out to harass people, and looked for similar scenarios such as this. Even that YouTube video padib was talking abotu shows that this guy was no crazy person being controlled by voices he was hearing, but a cruel calculated individual.

"Duffy, of Grovelands Road, admitted two offences of "trolling"

I'm sorry but this is too funny.

Harassment doesn't need to include 'threat to physical harm'. All it needs to do is be a repetitive behaviour meant to distub or upset. The repeating insult of this girl definately is harassment. And as a psychologist, I'd expect you would be more aware of the negative impact this type of harassment can have on the victim.

And there's a huge difference between criticising a politician for his/her political actions or decisions (which is what free spech laws are really meant to protect - the right to criticise public authority, and prevent things like tyrannies from emerging), and throwing around senseless insults, which are nothing more than cheap ad hominem attacks, used by modern-day politicians and partisan media outlets to manipulate the masses (one of the biggest issues with contemporary media).

You mean, a guy that committed a real crime that was like... literally the biggest hacking in of a military website, in the history of hacking, who's mental illness no doubt would of been considered in sentencing.

Vs this case where they didn't allow anything as a mitgating factor?

Besides which, seems hypocritical of the UK government, no?  Holding back people with the disease for facing trials with real crimes, yet sending someone to jail with the same disease for being "mean."

So in otherwords.  It's your opinion that the vast majority of people in the media, most people who post on message boards and the like,  all should be thrown in jail for harrassment.

Including people like say... John Stewart from the Daily Show... or really even yourself.  What with as eaisly as you throw the word bigot around.

As for the view of a "psychologist".  Different things effect people in different ways.  Someone may be as hurt and stresse because you didn't like their dress, or disagreed with them.

I know people who were violently ill and upset just because somebody else didn't want to be their friend.  To the level of where you think he was worried about a cancer test result or something.

Because i'm a psychologist i know more then anybody how basing things off a subjective measure is a problem. 

although that guy was a dick,I think jail time is a little to excessive in my opinion. So,are we going to jail anybody that saids something really hurtful and uncalled for. Don't get me wrong,guy was a jerk,but I just think the punishment was alittle to excessive and he should have just been banned from social media sites altogether.

The whole point is they feel someone with Aspergers would be treated differently and unfairly in the US.

If people with aspergers are being arrested and thrown in jail for the max penalty with no mitigating factors, for lesser crimes...

That destroys all credibility in the arguement.

Furhtemore, the government should be outraged at what happened and be speaking on this internet trolls behalf right? 

I've yet to hear any public outrage.