Son of Sam law

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For other uses of "Son of Sam", see Son of Sam (disambiguation).

A Son of Sam law is a law designed to keep criminals from profiting from their crimes by selling their stories to publishers. Such laws authorize the state to seize all money earned from such a deal and use it to compensate the criminal's victims.

The first such law was created in New York after the Son of Sam killings. It was enacted after rampant speculation about publishers offering large amounts of money for the serial killer's story. The law was invoked in New York eleven times between 1977 and 1990, including once against Mark David Chapman.

Critics disputed the law on First Amendment grounds. Also, it was argued that it would take away the financial incentive for many criminals to tell their stories, some of which (such as the Watergate scandal) were of vital interest to the general public.

In 1987, lawyers for Simon and Schuster sued the New York authorities to enjoin enforcement of the Son of Sam law. Their case involved the book Wiseguy, written by Nicholas Pileggi about ex-mobster Henry Hill and used as the basis for the film Goodfellas. The case reached the Supreme Court in 1991. In an 8-0 ruling, the court ruled the law unconstitutional. Simon & Schuster v. N.Y. Crime Victims Compensation Board 502 U.S. 105 (1991). The majority opinion was that the law was overinclusive, and would have prevented the publication of such works as The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Thoreau's Civil Disobedience, and even The Confessions of Saint Augustine.

Though the New York law was struck down, many such laws still exist in other states, mostly because they are so rarely invoked. The Supreme Court ruling actually stated that Son of Sam laws could conceivably be constitutional, but only if written very carefully with regard to First Amendment concerns; most of the remaining Son of Sam laws are not.

The state of California's Son of Sam law was struck down in 2002 after being used against Barry Keenan, one of the men who kidnapped Frank Sinatra, Jr. in 1963.

The New York law, after numerous revisions, now states that the government can seize all of a convicted felon's revenue and use it to compensate their victims. Attorneys for rapper Shyne, who was convicted in 1999 of a club shooting, stated that they intended to dispute this law on the grounds that it interfered with the accused's right to an attorney.

With the advent of the Internet and online sales, many Son of Sam laws are now targeting the sale of murderabilia. The constitutionality of these new laws are at this point mostly untested.