Marijuana & The Rule of Law

During the last few weeks, there were a few shootings — though this Fresno Bee story mentions four — when people allegedly tried to steal marijuana that did not belong to them, growing on property where they had no permission to be.

Obviously, something had to be done.

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“We Shouldn’t Have to Investigate”

A growing number of police departments are suffering a real shortage of funds to sustain partial police states — that is, police states where some semblance of investigation is still required to press certain cases — with predictable results:  Police want the system changed so that they no longer have to perform investigations.

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The Unknown Innocents

In 1921, the United States, following the newly-established traditions of the United Kingdom and France, interred the remains of an unknown American soldier from World War I. After World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War, the tradition continued with the internment of the remains of unknown soldiers from each conflict.  (The Unknown of Vietnam was later identified via DNA.)

In 2009, Arlington marked the burial of another Unknown. This time, the error was caused not by the ravages of war, but by human error.

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The Bell Curve of Crime & Punishment

I meet some bad people in my line of work.  I also meet some really nice people.  And I meet a whole lot of people somewhere in between those two extremes.

The law, unfortunately, ignores the bell curve of crime and punishment, making the assumption that my clients will always be of the worst sort.

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