If you’re not going to enforce a law, why have it in the first place?
Yes, I think laws ought to be enforced. And many many laws ought to be revised.
But to say, “let’s have laws but then, let’s not enforce them when we don’t feel like” it is gutless, and undermines our entire legal system.
That’s not how it really works. Prosecutors have broad discretion about when to bring charges of not, and what those charges should be. And they exercise that discretion all the time and only those very close to some potential cases even hear about the decisions made. I’ve heard of several recent cases on this very matter, whether, or how strictly age of consent laws should be enforced when it involves two teens.
We saw Nifong exercising his ‘judgment’ on how to charge the Duke lacrosse players.