The Son of Sam Law prevents convicted criminals in the United States (US) from profiting from their crimes through book or movie deals. In 1977, serial killer David Berkowitz, also known as the Son of Sam, was arrested in New York City after more than a year of killing. The Son of Sam Law is a result of the notoriety he received, and of speculation that publishers were offering him large sums of money for his side of the story. Specifically, the law is designed to allow the state to seize money earned from these deals and turn it over to victims of the crime as a form of restitution.
Sometimes, the Son of Sam Law includes the families of the criminals. This prevents them from using their knowledge of the situation for profit, as well. If a book or movie is made about the crime or is based on the criminal, the criminal must forfeit any proceeds to the state's Crime Victims Compensation Board.
The Son of Sam Law can be applied in cases of national security, including terrorism or espionage. Any profits made from book or movie deals about the incidents must be handed over to the US Treasury Department. In these cases, neither the criminals nor the victims would have access to the money.
There have been numerous criticisms of the Son of Sam Law since its inception. Critics argue that financial incentive is important in obtaining the stories of the crimes, and that criminals may be deterred from sharing the details, even if the story is important public knowledge. The best example of this is the watergate scandal, where the story was of national importance.
The law was found unconstitutional in 1991 in the case of Simon & Shuster v. Crime Victims Board. A court unanimously agreed that the law was overinclusive and infringed on a person's First Amendment right to free speech. The court took issue with the fact that the law included people who were accused of a crime, not solely those convicted of the crime. Laws in New York and in other states have since been modified to include all economic proceeds from a crime, not only money earned through the sales of the story.
Another major criticism of the Son of Sam Law is that under such a broad scope, books by Malcolm X, St. Augustine, and Henry David Thoreau would not have been published — although it is not the purpose or focus of their books, each author mention crimes he had committed. The Son of Sam Law makes no distinction between printed material, which is specifically about the crime, or those in which the crime is mentioned in larger context. This is the reason the law is largely considered to be over-broad.
