Policing, Mass Imprisonment, and the Failure of American Lawyers
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Policing, Mass Imprisonment, and the Failure of American Lawyers
1–10 of 326 posts
Re: Policing, Mass Imprisonment, and the Failure of American Lawyers
#2I guess the best you can do is hopethat you know the laws for the area you live in. The u.s. has so many laws that are different across states and also so many laws that are enforced arbitrarily.
Some states you only have to verbally identify yourself to police. Some states you're required to show I.d. if requested. Some states you can decline a breathalyzer and other states you cannot.
And if you know the law then you should exercise your rights to the limit of the law. Of course they keep passing new laws to push the limits in the other direction. And I don't think anyone wants to be a test case for throwing out a bad law in the courts.
The problem is similar here in Switzerland with the exception that there are fewer laws and that the federal government has very little power (unlike the u.s. With its strong federal laws). For example, here in one canton you can grow 2 marijuana plants for your own use while in another canton you will go to jail for even a small amount of marijuana.
Re: Policing, Mass Imprisonment, and the Failure of American Lawyers
#3bund of suckas. fuck you all beatches.
Re: Policing, Mass Imprisonment, and the Failure of American Lawyers
#4I've been "stopped and frisked" in France before, and it didn't seem out of the ordinary at the time. I just assumed random identity checks was part of the police's job. So I wonder how other countries' laws compare to the U.S. when it comes to random checks like this.
And of course, it happened maybe twice in my life, not a couple times a week.
Re: Policing, Mass Imprisonment, and the Failure of American Lawyers
#5I guess the best you can do is hopethat you know the laws for the area you live in. The u.s. has so many laws that are different across states and also so many laws that are enforced arbitrarily. Some states you only have to verbally identify yourself to police. Some states you're required to show I.d. if requested. Some states you can decline a breathalyzer and other states you cannot. And if you know the law then y…
That's all very well, but it turns out the armour of righteousness is poor protection against getting shot in the back by a policeman, who subsequently plants his excuse on your body. Coppers prepared to do that are hardly going to listen to people claiming their rights are being violated.
I dread the day that standard plod in the UK carries a firearm.
Re: Policing, Mass Imprisonment, and the Failure of American Lawyers
#6> The United States has 5% of the world’s population but 25% of the world’s prisoners.
This sums it up for me.
Re: Policing, Mass Imprisonment, and the Failure of American Lawyers
#7I've been "stopped and frisked" in France before, and it didn't seem out of the ordinary at the time. I just assumed random identity checks was part of the police's job. So I wonder how other countries' laws compare to the U.S. when it comes to random checks like this. And of course, it happened maybe twice in my life, not a couple times a week.
> And of course, it happened maybe twice in my life, not a couple times a week.
In France, that depends mostly of your shade of skin.
Re: Policing, Mass Imprisonment, and the Failure of American Lawyers
#8I guess the best you can do is hopethat you know the laws for the area you live in. The u.s. has so many laws that are different across states and also so many laws that are enforced arbitrarily. Some states you only have to verbally identify yourself to police. Some states you're required to show I.d. if requested. Some states you can decline a breathalyzer and other states you cannot. And if you know the law then y…
It's important to know one's rights, but I think that's by no means the best we can do. For starters, we can support organizations like the Equal Justice Initiative (http://www.eji.org) or the author of TFA's org, Equal Justice Under Law (http://equaljusticeunderlaw.org) that are working to both defend indigent defendants and fundamentally reform the criminal justice system.
Beyond that, I think that there is a lot of opportunity to advocate around these issues on the state and local level right now. Whatever you think of bodycams for police, you have to admit that in light of recent events they're going to become dramaticaly more common. That's just one example of how a crisis can provide a great opportunity for advocacy, and ultimately change. That's not to say that we will be able to make fundamental change quickly on this very difficult issue. But it is to say that there are paths forward, and I would invite people who care to dive in.
Re: Policing, Mass Imprisonment, and the Failure of American Lawyers
#9I've been "stopped and frisked" in France before, and it didn't seem out of the ordinary at the time. I just assumed random identity checks was part of the police's job. So I wonder how other countries' laws compare to the U.S. when it comes to random checks like this. And of course, it happened maybe twice in my life, not a couple times a week.
Those random identity checks are only legal if they are performed under particular circumstances establishing the risk of breach of the public order (for example around a protest or in such situations). Theoretically they cannot be based on the appearance of the person being controlled.
This means it is not legal for a police officer to control your identity unless they have established this risk of public disorder.
Of course, as a white person living in mostly affluent neighborhoods, I have not even been controlled once in my life. The experience of my friends of "north african descent" on the other hand, has been quite different.
Re: Policing, Mass Imprisonment, and the Failure of American Lawyers
#10> The United States has 5% of the world’s population but 25% of the world’s prisoners. This sums it up for me.
I find it disturbing how those two tiny stats "sum" it all up for you, yet you make no mention of the third and elusive stat that makes the biggest difference of all:
"The percentage of criminals in the United States"
Like I said, drawing and inference from the two stats you posted is disturbing because both of those stats say nothing of the actual amount of valid criminals/lawbreakers.