This is taken from the comments of a previous post. Your comparison of a drug dealer to anyone who sells cigarettes and booze is interesting. I believe that even with the huge tobacco lobby at work, most tobacco products will be illegal within twenty years, and rightfully so. Booze is a different story because it is well tolerated by many…
Category: Police
Abandon your child
Something strange is happening in Nebraska. From the LA Times: Nebraska’s safe-haven law is unlike similar laws in that it allows anyone, not just a parent, to drop off a child, of any age, at any state-licensed hospital without fear of prosecution for abandonment. The law doesn’t absolve anyone of charges such as abuse or neglect. But the fascinating part…
Justifiable homicides rise
The story in USA Today by Kevin Johnson.
New Yorkers:
Mark your calenders for next Thursday, October 23. I’ll be entertaining the crowd with discussions about policing, the war on drugs, and Cop in the Hood. All this at the wonderfully titled “Non-Motivational Speakers Series.” Tell your friends. Best yet, this event is at a bar. No, none of that stuffy academic pretension (no pipes or tweed jackets with arm…
More on guns and Florida crime
‘Guns are everywhere,’ Orlando police chief says A surge in murder and gunfire locally since the end of the federal assault-weapons ban in 2004. […] Florida law makes it easy for any adult without a criminal record to buy a gun. Yet many legally purchased guns end up being used by criminals. The state routinely turns up in law-enforcement surveys…
Homicides down in Baltimore
Good news from Charm City. Justin Fenton of the Sun describes the impact of one police unit. If all this is police’s doing, and it might be, note just how much 250 officers can accomplish (out of a police force of less than 3,000 in a city of 650,000 people).
Victory is Near!
The Agitator has a good post looking at how failure doesn’t stop our drug warriors from claiming success. The news is always good in the Bizarro World of prohibitionists.
Prohibition
But the old-fashioned kind. Against alcohol. In Alaska. Of course it doesn’t work. Prohibition never does. Alcohol abuse and alcohol-related crime is a huge problem in small-town Alaska. After the drinking comes the sexual abuse and rape, often incestuous. A friend of mine is a public defender up there. Oh, the stories he can tell. You know, of good honest…
What do we think about “shame'”?
America is more of a “guilt” culture than a “shame” culture. What does that mean? Guilt is something you feel. Shame is what you feel based on what othersfeel toward you. We want our criminals to feel remorse. That’s guilt. Ashamed to show your face in public because your grandma will think less of you? That’s shame. Culturally, if you…
I was talking to Charles Rangel
I was. Last night. On the night train coming back from Boston. I met Charles Rangel in the cafe car. I was chatting with the cafe man and drinking a beer. Here is one of the most powerful men in America. Taking the night train. Tired. No entourage. Willing to talk. We did. He knew my father a little bit.…