Here's two recent ones that really amazed and disgusted me
1. Meth charge dropped after only spaghetti sauce found on spoon
Here's the public defender describing the case: “From what I understand, she was a passenger in a car and had a spoon on her, near her, and I guess the officer, for whatever reason, thought there was some residue,”
I'd give you the cops' version but, "Attempts to obtain the original arrest report from the Gainesville Police were unsuccessful"
Now sure this seems pretty funny, but the woman was in jail for a MONTH AND A HALF! For no other reason that the cop thought she was a meth-head.
2. Before the Law: A boy was accused of taking a backpack. The courts took the next three years of his life.
This kid was accused of stealing someone's backpack. couldn't make bail, wouldn't plead out. 3 YEARS LATER, the charges were dismissed!
3 YEARS, people.
Showing posts with label legal plunder. Show all posts
Showing posts with label legal plunder. Show all posts
Friday, October 03, 2014
Friday, February 22, 2013
Decline in Crime
Interesting to think about explanations for declines in crime. Gun violence generally has collapsed, just fallen off the charts, outside of turf wars for drug gangs. As the WSJ puts it,
"Bank holdups have been nearly cut in half over the past decade — to 5.1 robberies per 100 U.S. banks in 2011. Though the nationwide crime rate is dropping, the decline in bank robberies far exceeds the decline in other crimes, according to Federal Bureau of Investigation data...Bank-security experts and former FBI agents attribute the decline to stepped-up security and tougher sentencing for bank robbers. Many also say that more recently, sophisticated criminals are recognizing bank robbery as a high-risk, low-reward crime and are migrating online." [WSJ]
As I do think that there is an extra explanation we are missing. Many of the most ruthless criminals were able to sell mortgages to government agencies Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac during the housing bubble, so that diverted them from bank robberies. The Fan/Fred combo didn't care about cost, and so it was too easy.
And today thugs can sell subsidized solar panels to religious zealots who worship Gaia and don't care about cost.
Who needs to rob banks, when the government will actually pay you to steal, legally?
Nod to Kevin Lewis for the WSJ piece; I doubt he endorses my interpretation.
"Bank holdups have been nearly cut in half over the past decade — to 5.1 robberies per 100 U.S. banks in 2011. Though the nationwide crime rate is dropping, the decline in bank robberies far exceeds the decline in other crimes, according to Federal Bureau of Investigation data...Bank-security experts and former FBI agents attribute the decline to stepped-up security and tougher sentencing for bank robbers. Many also say that more recently, sophisticated criminals are recognizing bank robbery as a high-risk, low-reward crime and are migrating online." [WSJ]
As I do think that there is an extra explanation we are missing. Many of the most ruthless criminals were able to sell mortgages to government agencies Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac during the housing bubble, so that diverted them from bank robberies. The Fan/Fred combo didn't care about cost, and so it was too easy.
And today thugs can sell subsidized solar panels to religious zealots who worship Gaia and don't care about cost.
Who needs to rob banks, when the government will actually pay you to steal, legally?
Nod to Kevin Lewis for the WSJ piece; I doubt he endorses my interpretation.
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