CLASSMATE’S POST

1.) As discussed in this unit, criminal justice laws should reflect society.  What law do you think should be written in your community to help social issues (like reducing crime, or improving social cohesion, or something similar) that you see as a problem. How would the law be enforced?  What penalty should be given for violating your new law?

2.) What law in your community do you think should be removed from the books?  What impact would removing this law have on your community?  Do you think the behavior it constrains is now acceptable in your community?

ANSWER THE ABOVE QUESTIONS AND THEN REPLY TO MY CLASSMATE’S RESPONSE TO THE ABOVE QUESTION AND EXPLAIN WHY YOU AGREE? (A MINIMUM OF 125 WORDS or MORE EACH QUESTION)

                                                CLASSMATE’S POST

1) I believe that a law that would help reduce crime in my community would be to criminalize loitering by the street in known drug areas. While currently it is not illegal, it does give officers reasonable suspicion to investigate further to determine whether crime is afoot. When officers pull up to one of these areas, often they see people scatter in different directions (however subtle). Many will argue social injustice to this law; however, drug dealers will have to find new avenues in which to distribute their product. Violation of this law would be a misdemeanor equivalent to that of trespassing.

2) One law that exists that I have always thought is petty is “Failure to carry license (while operating a motor vehicle).” There are many officers who like to use this charge for unknown reasons. One may be to inflate their statistics to show they wrote more tickets than others. While most people do always carry their license with them, some may forget their wallet at home, or accidentally leave their license for whatever reason. There are some people who do intentionally not carry their license, mostly to hide their identity from law enforcement. With technology today, law enforcement has the resources to locate someone’s driver’s license and to determine whether it is valid.