Libertarian ping.To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here
Posted on 09/28/2005 9:30:22 AM PDT by FeliciaCat
Well, that's a problem.
Convicted pedophiles in NYC are not allowed to have children in their custody.
That may be so, but a cop walking by seeing a man and a boy on a park bench might not know the adult is a convicted pedophile, even if they would know when an adult is sitting alone without a child.
You're right. Cops should just enforce whatever laws they feel like enforcing, you know, whenever the mood strikes them.
If cops had to enforce all laws, and if prosecutors had to try all cases, and if juries had to convict based on the facts and law presented, then all the power of government would rest within the legislative branch, and there would be no separation of powers whatsoever. Within a more limited scope, to the extent the executive power is supposed to "check and balance" legislative power, cops must be free to not enforce bad laws, and indeed have both the legal ability and also a moral duty to not enforce bad laws. You apparently wish otherwise.
Cops on the beat in NYC know their precincts pretty well, have an eye for suspicious interactions and know many of the offenders by sight.
Within a more limited scope, to the extent the executive power is supposed to "check and balance" legislative power, cops must be free to not enforce bad laws, and indeed have both the legal ability and also a moral duty to not enforce bad laws.
Cops do not have the legal ability not to enforce the law. They have a moral responsibility not to enforce egregiously immoral laws (like Jim Crow ones) - not a right to avoid enforcement of laws that only seem silly or counterproductive.
Throwing a woman in jail for three months and robbing her of $1000 at government gunpoint for sitting on a park bench in a public park, that she paid for in part with her own tax money is egregiously immoral. Do you disagree? Just following orders doesn't cut it.
"There have been a number of threads recently on FR which talked about young teachers having sex with male students."
Yeah, but it's not really as disturbing when women have sex with 16 year old boys than when men have sex with 15 year old girls or boys, and we all know it. The latter is called "pedophilia". The former is called "getting lucky".
Just call me old fashioned.
Good thing she wasn't chewing gum or talking on a cell phone.
She could have gotten maced.
Would it be egregiously immoral for me to get smacked with a $1000 fine for accidentally dropping a candywrapper on the subway?
Ignorance of the law is no excuse - especially when it's posted for your convenience.
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How often do you read of a middle-aged woman stealing a child to fill some hole in her life?
In NYC the playgrounds are fenced off areas within the parks; usually with only one entrance. The law exists to help create a safe haven for the youngest among us. Even older children are not allowed where the under-five year olds play.
And the protection is not just from pedophiles. Every year we read of at least a few cases where a middle-aged woman steals a child, not to abuse but to fill some personal need to mother. There was such a case just last month.
The law allows for the fine and/or the time or neither. This case will likely be dismissed but it is not up to the cops to decide a priori the outcome and tailor their enforcement accordingly.
Oh, btw, the picture posted was taken at least ten years and twenty pounds ago.
That is an important point - every playground in NYC is fenced off from larger areas with distinctive green or black steel fencing and generally has one entrance.
In Manhattan, the entrance usually has a gate you need to open and the sign in question is on the gate. I would guess that in other states and especially in most suburban/rural areas there is no such fencing or markers.
And there have been numerous child abductions by unstable women - that's true. There was one in Corona a couple of months ago, if I'm not mistaken.
I realize that only playground areas are restricted and I also stated in another post that the woman should have adhered to the sign posted.
I know, it was a broadcast post.
Libertarian ping.To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here
Post #3 - thanks for clarifying. I was about to post a knee-jerk anti-cop comment until I read it.
Selective enforcement is just about all there is anymore. Like, if she had said she was a Spanish-speaking black Filopino-American lesbian attorney who was just there on the behalf of CAIR to protect Islamic belly dancers, might NYPD have paused and wavered?
I know of at least one of those parks in San Francisco.
By 'common sense', do they mean only enforce against men? That would be profiling. I guess profiling makes some sense after all...
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