3 ms·

Thousands of new of laws are passed each year (how did we manage the year before without them?) so eventually everyone will be guilty of something. Many laws ar

Thousands of new of laws are passed each year (how did we manage the year before without them?) so eventually everyone will be guilty of something. Many laws are also broad so it's just a matter of them wanting to "get you." How many people have a few million $ under their mattresses to prove their innocence?

jlgreco 14y ago
> Many laws are also broad so it's just a matter of them wanting to "get you." Exactly. I have seen many people have hangups with the "three felonies a day" concept because they misunderstand the purpose. They think the accusation is that these laws are being constructed so that everyone can be arrested. Since it is obvious that everyone is not being arrested, they concluded that the concerned are just being alarmist. The purpose isn't to allow the arrest of everybody though. It is to allow the arrest of anybody. Only an unlucky few are going to be 'called on' their daily felonies. Well, that and the baseline background noise of enough arrests to keep the whole system busy and well greased...
- wwweston 14y ago
  > The purpose isn't to allow the arrest of everybody though. It is to allow the arrest of anybody. I expect it's possible there have been and are people who push laws with exactly that intention. But my suspicion is that for the most part, the process isn't driven by scheming tyrants behind the legislation, and that most laws are probably passed with the intention of solving a specific problem. It's only as they accumulate, as law enforcement and prosecutors learn how to push them as tools, and as courts accept and support such use that they're woven into a broader net that can catch "anybody." Confronting this is different from confronting those who proverbially "mean to rule" -- it's confronting what it means to have rule-of-law itself.

3 ms·

Thousands of new of laws are passed each year (how did we manage the year before without them?) so eventually everyone will be guilty of something. Many laws ar

by OGinparadise 14y ago

jlgreco 14y ago
> Many laws are also broad so it's just a matter of them wanting to "get you." Exactly. I have seen many people have hangups with the "three felonies a day" concept because they misunderstand the purpose. They think the accusation is that these laws are being constructed so that everyone can be arrested. Since it is obvious that everyone is not being arrested, they concluded that the concerned are just being alarmist. The purpose isn't to allow the arrest of everybody though. It is to allow the arrest of anybody. Only an unlucky few are going to be 'called on' their daily felonies. Well, that and the baseline background noise of enough arrests to keep the whole system busy and well greased...
- wwweston 14y ago
  > The purpose isn't to allow the arrest of everybody though. It is to allow the arrest of anybody. I expect it's possible there have been and are people who push laws with exactly that intention. But my suspicion is that for the most part, the process isn't driven by scheming tyrants behind the legislation, and that most laws are probably passed with the intention of solving a specific problem. It's only as they accumulate, as law enforcement and prosecutors learn how to push them as tools, and as courts accept and support such use that they're woven into a broader net that can catch "anybody." Confronting this is different from confronting those who proverbially "mean to rule" -- it's confronting what it means to have rule-of-law itself.