Threats are not Crimes

A 16-year-old boy is facing a disorderly conduct charge after making an online threat against Oregon State University. 

The boy, who lives outside Corvallis, was arrested Friday, a day after authorities spotted the threat on a blog, said Oregon State Police. An emergency alert was sent out to the university community and security was temporarily increased on campus. 

No one was hurt and there is no evidence of other further potential threat, police said. The boy's identity and details about the threat have not been released by police.

Source: Oregon State University online threat lands 16-year-old in handcuffs | OregonLive.com

Threats are not crimes. Of all of the reports on this incident, none have cited the blog posting, simply falling back on the police intervention on a non-crime. A crime must have an infringement on the rights of others, meaning there must be a victim. Philip K Dick explored this concept as pre-crime in his story Minority Report, in which "criminals" were charged and convicted before actually committing a real crime. The idea quickly collapses in application.