“Will someone please explain to me again how the laws on the books keep me safer from predators than does the gun on my hip?”
Lawyers, social workers, counselors of all sorts, prision guards, parole officers, ad nauseam - all claim they are “preventing crime”, or “rehabbing offenders”. Blah, blah, blabber, blabber.
Trust the nice person in the system. They are there to help you.
Well, well! Gag me with a cliche - they are trying to.
What I can’t understand is the following, which was in the article after the article stated the perp was denied bail:
“He was appointed a public defender and was ordered to have no contact with the alleged victim.”
Something does not make sense. If in jail, without bond, how could the perp possibly have any contact with the victim?
Or is there something I missed? Not being a lawyer, perhaps I missed something obvious to those in the system.
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I left off the (/sarc) tag, because I thought I really may be missing something.
Only in the likes of Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 do the firemen (not firefighters) arrive BEFORE the fire. ;)
Only in the likes of Equilibrium, Minority Report, NKVD/KGB-controlled Russia and STASI controlled-East Germany do the police arrive BEFORE the crime. ;) x 2
That approach no more works in the movies than it does in real life. At least not for free men.
"The fear of imminent justice" WORKS. It is the fear that "accounts will be settled right here and right now and justice will prevail." It is the psychological mechanism that causes you to NOT lay your hand on a red-hot stove: the 100% certainty that you will get burned right and right now and it is going to hurt and that hurt is going to last a long time.
Predators choose the weak sheep instead of the old rams for a reason. I do not in any way advocate that anyone "take the law into [their] own hands." I do advocate taking responsibility for your own personal safety and that of your loved ones. There's a joke about someone being asked why she carries a gun and the woman says "Because a cop is too heavy." In a perfect world, no one would need to carry any form of weapon; in a perfect world there would be no need for law enforcement; in a perfect world there would be no need for laws. Just the same, I'll take this flawed messed-up world any day over the make-believe land of the Teletubbies and Boobahs. Yes and GLADLY, warts and all.
"No contact" means do not put yourself in proximity to the victim, call, write, email, communicate in person or through other parties, etc. Given the legal (ILLEGAL) status of the perps and their "region" of origin, it is not beyond the realm of possibility that they, their associates, or their associates' associates have gang affiliations. These people do not play nice. A little intimidation of the victim or her family can work wonders in convincing her that she suddenly realizes she is absolutely certain that she did not see what she once thought she saw. There are additional reasons more unsettling and to the point. Hence, the "no contact" order.
Maybe that helps.