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Courts Unprepared For Wave Of Emoji

maximus otter

Recovering policeman
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Bay Area prosecutors were trying to prove that a man arrested during a prostitution sting was guilty of pimping charges, and among the evidence was a series of Instagram DMs he’d allegedly sent to a woman. One read: “Teamwork make the dream work” with high heels and money bag emoji placed at the end. Prosecutors said the message implied a working relationship between the two of them. The defendant said it could mean he was trying to strike up a romantic relationship. Who was right?

Emoji are showing up as evidence in court more frequently with each passing year. Between 2004 and 2019, there was an exponential rise in emoji and emoticon references in US court opinions, with over 30 percent of all cases appearing in 2018.

Emoticons started appearing in court in 2004, and they have since been found most commonly in sexual predation cases. But that’s just counting the cases that were able to be tracked with the words “emoji” and “emoticon.” Electronic databases of court opinions aren’t set up to handle the actual emoji, and they aren’t displayed in case database services like Westlaw or Lexis, which is where Goldman finds his references.

More recently, emoji have overtaken emoticons, and they’ve shown up in all types of cases, from murder to robbery. “We’re going to see emojis show up more frequently when the case involves people talking to each other,” Goldman says. In murder cases, emoji could be found in threats that took place between the defendant and the victim, and they serve as evidence that suggests the defendant’s state of mind or whether they had a propensity to commit the crime.

https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/18/18225231/emoji-emoticon-court-case-reference

maximus otter
 
Bay Area prosecutors were trying to prove that a man arrested during a prostitution sting was guilty of pimping charges, and among the evidence was a series of Instagram DMs he’d allegedly sent to a woman. One read: “Teamwork make the dream work” with high heels and money bag emoji placed at the end. Prosecutors said the message implied a working relationship between the two of them. The defendant said it could mean he was trying to strike up a romantic relationship. Who was right?
maximus otter

Clearly at present the information is totally subjective and open to interpretation. Any prosecutor whose case hangs on the interpretation of an emoji needs a stern talking to.

When I first read the title of this I thought it might relate to this sort of thing:
lol-my-bank-just-called-me-because-you-can-give-2553191.png


Relating to the following: https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/gv5jgy/iphone-emoji-break-apps
 
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