| Submit your comments on this article |
| Government |
| Repealing Useless and Abusive Laws Might Do More Good Than "Defunding" the Police |
| 2020-06-28 |
| [Mises] "Defund the Police" is the latest rallying cry for protestors in many cities across the nation. Many activists, enraged by the brutal killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police, are calling for completely disbanding the police, while others are seeking reductions in police budgets and more government spending elsewhere. However, few activists appear to be calling for a fundamental decrease in the political power that is the root cause of police abuses. Many "Defund the Police" activists favor ending the war on drugs. That would be a huge leap forward toward making police less intrusive and oppressive. But even if police were no longer making a million plus drug arrests each year, they would still be making more than 9 million other arrests. Few protestors appear to favor the sweeping repeals that could take tens of millions of Americans out of the legal crosshairs. How many of the "Defund the Police" protestors would support repealing mandatory seatbelt laws as a step toward reducing police power? In 2001, the Supreme Court ruled that police can justifiably arrest anyone believed to have "committed even a very minor criminal offense." That case involved Gail Atwater, a Texas mother who was driving slowly near her home but, because her children were not wearing seatbelts, was taken away by an abusive cop whose shouting left her children "terrified and hysterical." A majority of Supreme Court justices recognized that "Atwater's claim to live free of pointless indignity and confinement clearly outweighs anything the City can raise against it specific to her case"‐but upheld the arrest anyhow. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor warned that "such unbounded discretion carries with it grave potential for abuse." |
| Posted by:Clem |
| #4 @#2 - There's a book out called "Three Felonies A Day" (not a paid advertisement, just FYI), so just be mindful of that personal crime wave you commit. |
| Posted by: Clem 2020-06-28 18:39 |
| #3 > "Police reform and gun reform go hand in hand. Reducing the easy availability of guns would not eliminate the problems with policing in America nor end unwarranted killings, but it would help." Tells me all I need to know right there. FOAD. |
| Posted by: Nero 2020-06-28 18:15 |
| #2 At any given moment, it has been said we all are breaking some law. I don't know whether this is true or not; however, it is easy to believe it is true. Trying to get rid of useless laws would be a Hurculean task. Who would decide such things? Some left-wing anarchic mob such as BLM, Antifa, Dem Party hacks or some other group? That amounts to mob rule and leads to star chambers and kangaroo courts. We have seen some of that lately in faked investigations, frame-ups and questionable trials (Flynn and Stone, e.g.) Nazi Germany tried having State-appointed lawyers and judges who designed faux laws during a trial to get rid of opponents and enemies. That did not work out well. Some reform is needed, it's not clear exactly where it should be aimed. To begin with, we should get rid of laws that are not Constitutionally supported. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2020-06-28 17:06 |
| #1 TL;DR |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2020-06-28 15:21 |