Son-of-Sam Law
SON-OF-SAM LAW
SON-OF-SAM LAW. Adopted in New York State in 1977 as a response to the public outrage over profits made by convicted serial killer David Berkowitz (also known as "Son of Sam") for selling his story to a publishing house, this law required publishers to deposit money owed to persons either convicted of a crime or who confessed to having committed a crime in a fund used to compensate their victims. In Simon and Schuster, Inc. v. Members of the New York State Victims Board (1991), the Supreme Court struck down the New York law because it violated the First Amendment.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Weed, Frank. Certainty of Justice: Reform in the Crime Victim Movement. New York: Aldine de Gruyter, 1995.
Katy J.Harriger/a. r.
See alsoCrime ; Serial Killings .
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Son-of-Sam Law