4 ms·

>Laws should always be enforced. That's rather naive. We need to fix a lot of laws before we could do that because: 1. It's not unheard of for laws to be cont

>Laws should always be enforced. That's rather naive. We need to fix a lot of laws before we could do that because: 1. It's not unheard of for laws to be contradictory in some circumstances, or just outright contradictory. 2. Do you really want everyone to be automatically ticketed for jaywalking? Laws were written with policemen's, and the court's discretion in mind, whether you want to believe that or not, and switching to an automatic always on enforcement mode would be oppressing in the extreme.

jfoutz 14y ago
I've always been uncomfortable with one set of written rules that doesn't really matter, and another secret set of unwritten rules that actually matters. If some cab driver gets a ticket from a speed camera becasue he's rushing to get a pregnant woman to the hospital, i've got no problem letting that ticket go - that should be an easy and painless process as well. It often seems that discretion is used to protect the powerful from any consequence. Yeah, i'd rather err on the side of everybody gets a day in court. edit Explicitly, i think laws should say what they actually mean. If jaywalking is sometimes ok, write that down somewhere so we don't have to argue about it.
- fnordfnordfnord 14y ago
  >Explicitly, i think laws should say what they actually mean. Just to be clear, I agree with you. I was pointing out the way I think things are and probably will continue to be. >It often seems that discretion is used to protect the powerful from any consequence. It does seem to have that effect. >Yeah, i'd rather err on the side of everybody gets a day in court. That, in itself is another freebie to the wealthy and well-connected. In Texas it is almost always possible to get a traffic citation dismissed by showing up in court with an attorney that specializes in such things. Or, if you're a working stiff, who has no more days off, you can plead no contest and pay the citation with a credit card. Cost is about the same in my experience (minus the day off).
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jfoutz 14y ago

I've always been uncomfortable with one set of written rules that doesn't really matter, and another secret set of unwritten rules that actually matters. If some cab driver gets a ticket from a speed camera becasue he's rushing to get a pregnant woman to the hospital, i've got no problem letting that ticket go - that should be an easy and painless process as well. It often seems that discretion is used to protect the powerful from any consequence. Yeah, i'd rather err on the side of everybody gets a day in court. edit Explicitly, i think laws should say what they actually mean. If jaywalking is sometimes ok, write that down somewhere so we don't have to argue about it.

fnordfnordfnord 14y ago
>Explicitly, i think laws should say what they actually mean. Just to be clear, I agree with you. I was pointing out the way I think things are and probably will continue to be. >It often seems that discretion is used to protect the powerful from any consequence. It does seem to have that effect. >Yeah, i'd rather err on the side of everybody gets a day in court. That, in itself is another freebie to the wealthy and well-connected. In Texas it is almost always possible to get a traffic citation dismissed by showing up in court with an attorney that specializes in such things. Or, if you're a working stiff, who has no more days off, you can plead no contest and pay the citation with a credit card. Cost is about the same in my experience (minus the day off).

deleted 14y ago

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