Mumia's Speech Leads to New Pennsylvania “Mental Anguish” Bill

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett said Monday he supports a bill designed to prevent offenders from causing their victims "mental anguish," a proposal launched after a Vermont college chose a convicted cop killer as a commencement speaker.

Corbett spoke at a Capitol event one day after Mumia Abu-Jamal gave a recorded address to about 20 graduates at Goddard College in Plainfield.

"Nobody has the right to continually taunt the victims of their violent crimes in the public square," Corbett said. He called the school's choice of Abu-Jamal "unconscionable."

The bill that advanced out of a House committee Monday would allow victims to go to court for an injunction against "conduct which perpetuates the continuing effects of the crime on the victim."

Abu-Jamal is serving life in prison for killing Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner in 1981.

In the recorded remarks, he encouraged the students to "think about the myriad of problems that beset this land and strive to make it better" but did not address the crime for which he was convicted.

The Pennsylvania legislative proposal defines the conduct at issue as that which "causes a temporary or permanent state of mental anguish."

It would allow victims or prosecutors to ask for an injunction "or other appropriate relief."

Andy Hoover with the American Civil Liberties Union in Pennsylvania said the measure was vague and too broad.

"The Legislature doesn't have the power to punish speech it doesn't like," said Hoover, the organization's legislative director. He said former offenders could end up being penalized, decades after being released from prison, for speaking about their experience or on public interest matters.

"If enacted, this bill will likely have First Amendment troubles," Hoover said.

Abu-Jamal has gained supporters around the world who claim he is innocent and the victim of a racist legal system. His story has been told in documentaries and books. Goddard College calls him "an award winning journalist who chronicles the human condition."