Question for Law Enforcement and Attorneys

[Snipe]

I think leadership has some discretion on which way they want to lean as well. And sadly it can be more political

 

[C_Hallbert]

As former LE and someone who now works in the enforcement of civil laws, it's complicated. Laws are written for many reasons. Sometimes they're written to address a critical need or shortcoming. Sometimes they're written for an emerging issue, due to advancements in technology. Sometimes they're written to satisfy a specific segment of the population and sometimes they're just written so legislators can say "look we did a thing".

Now take all those laws and mix in the fact that some laws are written very well, and some very poorly. That directly effects how easy or difficult it is to enforce them. Then add the fact that some laws are not paired with the finances, infrastructure, administrative or manpower requirements to enforce them. On top of that is the fact that some laws were never wanted by the people charged with enforcing them in the first place. Oh, and some laws were wanted so they could more easily avoid enforcing other laws. Sometimes time just marches on and leaves outdated laws gathering dust.

We have SO many laws on the books that there will never be enough time, money or people to enforce them all. We're overburdened with them. I was saying 30 years ago that for every new law passed, they should be required to eliminate two that aren't effective or necessary. What we're left with is the worst: selective enforcement. If you don't have the resources to enforce all the laws, that means they can pick and choose which laws they want to enforce and which ones to ignore. Then they get to select who to enforce them on and who to let slide.

That's why I sound like a broken record saying we have a legal system, not a "Justice" system. If you use common sense and don't get too far out of pocket, it's pretty easy to avoid being a victim of the uncaring, monolithic legal system. If you piss off the wrong person or just blithely bounce through life without a care, you might get crushed by it. It won't care whether it crushes you or not. You're just not important enough to make any impact on it whatsoever.

As Martin Q. Blank would say "If I show up at your door, chances are you did something to bring me there." I try to leave people alone unless what they're doing (or not doing), is gonna get someone hurt. Believe it or not, but keeping the peace is much easier than enforcing the law. Keeping the peace doesn't necessarily require lawyers to get involved, unless of course you just really want them

Unjust laws and the enforcement of unjust laws are characteristics of tyrannies. It is the sacred duty of those citizens who serve on juries to insure that justice is held above the law. Despite what judges or attorneys might believe or say, this is the essential purpose of the jury system.