5 ms·
> you're making too many criminals 80% of property crime goes unsolved, so unless you legalize vandalism and theft there are going to be criminals.
by happyscrappy 12y ago
> you're making too many criminals
80% of property crime goes unsolved, so unless you legalize vandalism and theft there are going to be criminals.
- toomuchtodo 12y agoOr fix the underlying problems that causes vandalism and theft.
- jessaustin 12y agoPerhaps this is another way out of our problem? We could encourage police to "solve" property crimes rather than drug crimes? In analogy to their awful drug-war asset seizures, perhaps they could get a cut of items recovered/reimbursed? I'm sure they would eventually twist such an incentive structure into something else that's awful and unconscionable, but at least in the meantime they might stop with the SWAT raids?
- toomuchtodo 12y agoCould we not just outlaw SWAT raids?
- jessaustin 12y agoIt's difficult (not impossible!) to directly oppose politically well-connected factions on their bread-and-butter issues. We might have more luck saying to police departments "here is another way you can have lots of money to spend" rather than "we're taking away federal support for the Drug War, which for some time has been the only way you can hire more cops and procure more equipment". The trick would be to make sure that the existing force is redirected into more benign directions, rather than simply growing to handle new activities while perpetuating the Drug War.
- toomuchtodo 12y agoCan we not just defund them? Can't "Stave The Beast" be used for good?
- chc 12y agoPlay it out in your head. An elected official declares he wants to try and starve a powerful and relatively popular union. What happens next?
- toomuchtodo 12y agoI didn't say it was pleasant. What's necessary rarely is.
- jessaustin 12y agoSo you're advocating some sort of violent overthrow? We can't just snap our fingers and remake the political system into something completely different than it is, no matter how much Lawrence Lessig wishes we could. Grim fanatical purity is good for fundraising, but it won't get any laws passed.
- toomuchtodo 12y agoNo, I'm advocating for politicians to make decisions that are better for society, but will cause them to not be re-elected (similar to what happened in Australia when they outlawed firearms).
- jessaustin 12y agoSo you want the whole system to be based on the assumption that human beings are good? That is every bit as realistic as the assumption that USA is identical to Australia. b^)
- julianz 12y agoI agree with you, but the Port Arthur massacre happened 8 weeks into Howard's term as PM of Australia. The Howard government was in power for 10 years after that, they won four straight elections.
- code_duck 12y agoTheir solution would probably be to conduct SWAT raids and roadblocks to find stolen property, continuing the trend of constitutionally questionable practices.
- john_b 12y ago"Unsolved" is very different from "unprosecuted". The question here is why the courts are overloaded, not why there isn't additional load due to the 80% of property crimes you mention.
- mikeash 12y agoThe 80% of property crime that goes unsolved is, by definition, not causing an excessive load on the court system.