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IMO having any law that is rarely enforced is a bad idea. That gives authorities the choice of whom to pursue and whom to let go, which is often used to hound p
by ptero 8y ago
IMO having any law that is rarely enforced is a bad idea. That gives authorities the choice of whom to pursue and whom to let go, which is often used to hound parties (people, groups or countries) for arbitrary reasons citing the law in question as a reason for persecution.
Laws should be clear and non-burdensome for the majority. And violations caught at the high rate. My 2c.
- rhizome31 8y agoA typical example of a crime that is very rarely punished is rape. I hope you'll agree that it should nevertheless remain banned.
- Nasrudith 8y agoThere is a difference between rarely enforced and rarely punished. In antiquity before forensics if someone murdered someone on a country road and cleaned their clothes and cleaned or disposed of their weapon nobody would ever know who did it without a confession. However if they saw someone murdering a man in the street they would mob the assailant and capture or kill him. The first case they may bury bodies and set an armed patrol of some sort for roving bandits but the murderer would never be punished per say. However if nearly everyone drinks and alcohol is illegal but bars operate openly yeah that law is bad it is only being used as a pretext.
- dsfyu404ed 8y agoIt's rarely punished because it's hard to prosecute. When an actionable case is dropped in a prosecutor's lap they're happy to take it to court.
- teawrecks 8y agoNo one said don't enforce it, they said it's difficult to enforce. Those are very different.
- dwighttk 8y agoeh... I'm glad there is a speed limit on the road in front of my house even though a lot of people drive 10 mph faster.
- ptero 8y agoOK, but in a similar situation (speed limit that most people exceed by 5-10 mph), I would prefer that the speed limit was raised by 5 mph, and then enforced all time time (e.g., via a well-calibrated speed camera), not randomly when the town needs extra cash and places a traffic cop nearby to extract a tax.