Google Engineer bails out student in jail • Hacker News Board

Re: Google Engineer bails out student in jail

#21

Post by pieceofpeace » Fri, Dec 24, 2010, 6:22 AM UTC

[From: http://www.laweekly.com/2010-12-09/news/jeremy-marks-attempt...]

The first thing to understand is that Jeremy Marks touched no one during his "attempted lynching" of LAUSD campus police officer Erin Robles.

The second is that Marks' weapon was the camera in his cell phone.

The third is that Officer Robles' own actions helped turn an exceedingly minor wrongdoing — a student smoking at a bus stop — into a state prison case.

---

Edit to add: Jeremy wasn't smoking, just recording the cop (which is legal in his state)(wo)man-handling the smoker.

Re: Google Engineer bails out student in jail

#22

Post by patrickaljord » Fri, Dec 24, 2010, 6:29 AM UTC

I don't live in the US but when I read that kind of story or how Bradley Manning is treated (regardless of whether he's guilty or not), it really looks like the US is acting like the worst kind of police state or despotism (where the despot would be a mixture of corporations and corrupt media/politicians).

Re: Google Engineer bails out student in jail

#23

Post by ericflo » Fri, Dec 24, 2010, 6:35 AM UTC

adamjernst wrote: post #12

woodrow wrote: post #6

In case you're (like me) wondering what "attempted lynching" means in the context of the article, consider yourself enlightened by the California Penal Code: 405a. The taking by means of a riot of any person from the lawful custody of any peace officer is a lynching. 405b. Every person who participates in any lynching is punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for two, three or four years. I can't imagine this…

The original (pre-racist) definition of "lynching" was populist punishment before a proper trial. Crowds would break into jail, remove a suspect that had yet to be given a proper trial, and hang (or otherwise punish) him.

Now companies and countries do that for us! coughWikiLeakscough

Re: Google Engineer bails out student in jail

#24

Post by mixmax » Fri, Dec 24, 2010, 6:45 AM UTC

25% of the world population in jail is American. 737 out of 100.000 Americans are in jail, that's almost one out of a hundred. As a comparison Denmark has 59 out of 100.000 people in jail. And the number of Americans in jail has been rising steadily for the last 20 years.

This is a pretty serious problem.

Re: Google Engineer bails out student in jail

#25

Post by paulbaumgart » Fri, Dec 24, 2010, 6:45 AM UTC

patrickaljord wrote: post #22

I don't live in the US but when I read that kind of story or how Bradley Manning is treated (regardless of whether he's guilty or not), it really looks like the US is acting like the worst kind of police state or despotism (where the despot would be a mixture of corporations and corrupt media/politicians).

Keep in mind that the US is a very distributed system. You can have a local District Attorney who decides to pursue cases like this, but in the next jurisdiction over, you could very well have a DA who is an entirely reasonable person and would never allow something like this to happen.

Eventually these things usually get sorted out in some higher court, but that can take years and can really mess up a person's life in the meantime. Especially if that person is poor, unfortunately.

Re: Google Engineer bails out student in jail

#26

Post by qq66 » Fri, Dec 24, 2010, 6:48 AM UTC

mixmax wrote: post #24

25% of the world population in jail is American. 737 out of 100.000 Americans are in jail, that's almost one out of a hundred. As a comparison Denmark has 59 out of 100.000 people in jail. And the number of Americans in jail has been rising steadily for the last 20 years. This is a pretty serious problem.

That 25% number seems pretty hard to believe, given that compared to all countries (not developed countries) America is very low-crime and America is 5% of the world's population.

I suspect that either a) poorer countries are too cash-strapped to lock up dangerous criminals or b) that many poorer countries don't have reliable data on prisoner numbers.

Re: Google Engineer bails out student in jail

#27

Post by jrockway » Fri, Dec 24, 2010, 6:49 AM UTC

waterlesscloud wrote: post #18

woodrow wrote: post #6

In case you're (like me) wondering what "attempted lynching" means in the context of the article, consider yourself enlightened by the California Penal Code: 405a. The taking by means of a riot of any person from the lawful custody of any peace officer is a lynching. 405b. Every person who participates in any lynching is punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for two, three or four years. I can't imagine this…

The part about "attempted lynching" results from an accusation that the student yelled "Kick her (the police officer's) ass!" during the confrontation. At least that makes the charge make sense, though of course who knows if it's true or not. Details were linked off the linked page- http://www.laweekly.com/2010-12-09/news/jeremy-marks-attempt...

This seems pretty weak to me.

So say you are having the shit beaten out of you. You're being beaten, and shit is coming out. Will the shout, "kick her ass" yelled by some random onlooker change your strategy for dealing with the situation? You were going to just lay there, but because of that onlooker's suggestion, now the thought to fight back occurs to you?

I kind of doubt that.

Maybe we should arrest the adrenaline that your body produces for "attempted lynching".

Re: Google Engineer bails out student in jail

#28

Post by qq66 » Fri, Dec 24, 2010, 6:50 AM UTC

rdl wrote: post #19

waterlesscloud wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The part about "attempted lynching" results from an accusation that the student yelled "Kick her (the police officer's) ass!" during the confrontation. At least that makes the charge make sense, though of course who knows if it's true or not. Details were linked off the linked page- http://www.laweekly.com/2010-12-09/news/jeremy-marks-attempt...

New goal in life: if I ever have children, don't send them to LAUSD schools. Schools with armed police at the door are undesirable -- borderline tolerable if they're there to protect from outsiders, but if they're needed to control the students, something is seriously wrong.

You're lucky that you have the choice to send your kids to a different school (as do I, and most HN readers). The people who don't have this choice, also disproportionately have children who need to be controlled by police (leaving the families without a choice, but with non-feral children, as unfortunately bystanders).

Re: Google Engineer bails out student in jail

#29

Post by pyre » Fri, Dec 24, 2010, 6:52 AM UTC

patrickaljord wrote: post #22

I don't live in the US but when I read that kind of story or how Bradley Manning is treated (regardless of whether he's guilty or not), it really looks like the US is acting like the worst kind of police state or despotism (where the despot would be a mixture of corporations and corrupt media/politicians).

The way that Bradley Manning is being treated doesn't surprise me too much. He is suspected of "leaking classified information," so it would make sense to keep him in solitary confinement from a government/military bureaucrat's point of view. If they don't segregate him, he might leak more secrets to other people.

The other stuff (no mattress or pillow) just seems like pettiness on the part of the people in power that were embarrassed.

Re: Google Engineer bails out student in jail

#30

Post by cd34 » Fri, Dec 24, 2010, 6:58 AM UTC

waterlesscloud wrote: post #18

woodrow wrote: post #6

In case you're (like me) wondering what "attempted lynching" means in the context of the article, consider yourself enlightened by the California Penal Code: 405a. The taking by means of a riot of any person from the lawful custody of any peace officer is a lynching. 405b. Every person who participates in any lynching is punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for two, three or four years. I can't imagine this…

The part about "attempted lynching" results from an accusation that the student yelled "Kick her (the police officer's) ass!" during the confrontation. At least that makes the charge make sense, though of course who knows if it's true or not. Details were linked off the linked page- http://www.laweekly.com/2010-12-09/news/jeremy-marks-attempt...

There is a condition called 'Contempt of Cop' which is probably what fueled this. While it was happening, I can only imagine the police officer thinking, "Oh no you don't", at which point her focus changed.

One hopes logic prevails in this case. Kudos to Neil Fraser.