I hope one of the legal beagles steps in and educates you on that belief.

IANAL but I'm pretty sure one can be convicted for one's words if it can be proved that they caused a crime.

Generally, that's not correct. Speech is almost never criminalized merely because it causes a crime (as opposed to speech which itself can be criminal, like fraud or perjury or something like that).

The main exception is the very limited category of speech which fails the Brandenburg v. Ohio standard. Speech can be prohibited or made a crime if it both: (1) is "directed at inciting or producing imminent lawless action" and (2) is "likely to incite or produce such action."

That's why you're allowed to be a racist and white supremacist and a Nazi and all sorts of terrible things which might cause crimes; or to generally advocate that people commit crimes, like people who extol recreational illegal drug use. It's legal to say that you think the government should be overthrown by violent revolution, as a general idea. If you're not directing your speech towards inciting imminent lawless action - like inciting a riot right then - your speech can't be criminalized on that basis.

US Policy FAQ

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