Tuesday, August 25, 2020

Central Problems with Policing are in the laws themselves

Of course, Qualified Immunity is a terrible idea which leads to unaccountable policing.

But beyond that, there are many crimes we expect police to enforce with shouldn't be crimes.  This includes all criminal statues regarding use or possession of drugs, as well as the distribution of soft drugs including marijuana.  These should have no criminal penalties.  Even penalties for distribution of hard drugs should generally not be considered criminal or very important.  After all, Intelligence Services are often involved in such distribution, which they often use to raise money.

There should be no Civil Asset Forfeiture.

There should be no requirements for cash bail or accelerating penalties which turn poor people into criminals.

Personal immigration violations should also not be criminal.  In some cases, deportation might be called for, but not detention or fines so severe they result in people being detained.

Regarding immigration, serious criminal offenses should apply to things like illegally importing workers or knowingly hiring undocumented immigrants.  But not so much to the immigrants themselves.

Generally, most petty crimes should be seen as that.  Petty.  Not the sort of thing police officers put people into life threating situations about.  Only Grand Crimes, such as US officials lying to start wars, deserve that treatement.

But as things are rigged now, most frequently grand criminals aren't even prosecuted.  Epstein being a rare exception, and it took decades for him to be prosecuted.

For petty crimes, it's sufficient to serve people notices, as with residential code violations.

Draconian regimes like The Crime Bill are very harmful and should be undone completely.


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