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Selective enforcement of laws is trouble in the long term. It transfers power from the legislature to the executive, and tends to yield situations in which ever

by ISL 13y ago

Selective enforcement of laws is trouble in the long term. It transfers power from the legislature to the executive, and tends to yield situations in which everyone is guilty of something.

dnautics 13y ago
it already happens. Drug laws, etc. I'm sorry, but you have your causality backwards. Official (or unofficial) selective enforcement of the laws is a symptom of questionable laws, not a cause.
- ISL 13y ago
  I disagree with respect to causality. If selective enforcement were not possible, then it couldn't happen. Imagine a (flawed, but fair) system in which, if an executive selectively failed to prosecute anyone for violating a law, then the law is nullified, just as (approximately) in the arena of trademark. An executive bound to enforce the law would result in more citizen/legislative/lobbying effort directed toward implementing better laws and fixing those that were broken or out of date. In practice, executive (and judicial (and in general!)) discretion is important. As an example, mandatory minimum sentencing has attracted criticism. An adaptive front-line response is a good thing, but only to a point. Leaving vague or unenforced laws on the books has the potential for both abuse and compassion (see national monuments and the Antiquities act, for a non-judicial example).
  - dnautics 13y ago
    >An executive bound to enforce the law would result in more citizen/legislative/lobbying effort directed toward implementing better laws and fixing those that were broken or out of date. Or, the executive could choose not to enforce those laws (and screw people's lives over in the process) and take the initiative to scrub them from the books by introducing bills, etc. But you're right. Politicians are not usually decent people, and it's unreasonable to expect them to not play politics with people's lives.
chetanahuja 13y ago
"Selective enforcement of laws is trouble in the long term." Also inevitable and unavoidable. Has been this way since the beginning of time (or whenever the first law was enacted).

by ISL 13y ago

Selective enforcement of laws is trouble in the long term. It transfers power from the legislature to the executive, and tends to yield situations in which everyone is guilty of something.

dnautics 13y ago

it already happens. Drug laws, etc. I'm sorry, but you have your causality backwards. Official (or unofficial) selective enforcement of the laws is a symptom of questionable laws, not a cause.

ISL 13y ago
I disagree with respect to causality. If selective enforcement were not possible, then it couldn't happen. Imagine a (flawed, but fair) system in which, if an executive selectively failed to prosecute anyone for violating a law, then the law is nullified, just as (approximately) in the arena of trademark. An executive bound to enforce the law would result in more citizen/legislative/lobbying effort directed toward implementing better laws and fixing those that were broken or out of date. In practice, executive (and judicial (and in general!)) discretion is important. As an example, mandatory minimum sentencing has attracted criticism. An adaptive front-line response is a good thing, but only to a point. Leaving vague or unenforced laws on the books has the potential for both abuse and compassion (see national monuments and the Antiquities act, for a non-judicial example).
- dnautics 13y ago
  >An executive bound to enforce the law would result in more citizen/legislative/lobbying effort directed toward implementing better laws and fixing those that were broken or out of date. Or, the executive could choose not to enforce those laws (and screw people's lives over in the process) and take the initiative to scrub them from the books by introducing bills, etc. But you're right. Politicians are not usually decent people, and it's unreasonable to expect them to not play politics with people's lives.

chetanahuja 13y ago

"Selective enforcement of laws is trouble in the long term." Also inevitable and unavoidable. Has been this way since the beginning of time (or whenever the first law was enacted).