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A comment on What life is like after police ransack your house, then the charges are dropped. Parent comment

Re:What life is like after police ransack your house, then t... by talmand on Thursday March 31, 2016 @01:16PM (#11398799)
It's the theory that if you write enough laws then everybody is a criminal. Then the authorities can just pick and choose who they wish to prosecute. This an example of that, so many laws on the books that the people in charge of them have no idea what the laws on the books are.

There have been stories recently of police arresting someone for a legal act because the officer thought it was illegal. If I remember correctly a lawsuit was started in one of these cases and it determined the officer's ignorance of the law was not a suitable reason for the lawsuit. Or something to that point.

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Re:What life is like after police ransack your house, then t... by jseliger on Thursday March 31, 2016 @03:18PM (#11399805)
It's the theory that if you write enough laws then everybody is a criminal

That's already true, as pointed out in Three Felonies a Day: http://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp/.... Everyone is already a criminal if someone wants to look carefully enough.

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Re:What life is like after police ransack your house, then t... by justratsinacoat on Thursday March 31, 2016 @05:39PM (#11400749)
>Everyone is already a criminal if someone wants to look carefully enough

This is a pretty good quote. It reminded me of two more:

"Honest men have nothing to fear from the police" (said, presumably, by the prolific Anonymous), and

"If you give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest of men, I will find something in them which will hang him" (said, presumably, by Cardinal Richelieu but possibly by the Roman philosopher Quintilian)

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Re:What life is like after police ransack your house, then t... by Zeeem on Thursday March 31, 2016 @07:37PM (#11401440)
The first Amazon review directly contradicts you[1]. Accordong to it, the book does not say that we all commit three felonies a day. [1]http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/review/1594035229/R11HC7ZWMQV2QY...
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Re:What life is like after police ransack your house, then t... by talmand on Friday April 01, 2016 @10:15AM (#11404881)
I haven't read it, but I'm aware of the book. But I disagree with the title of three felonies a day, I just doubt that. I suppose it's possible the book covers that in some way though.
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Re:What life is like after police ransack your house, then t... by STRML on Thursday March 31, 2016 @01:57PM (#11399137)
What's even worse is that it's not a problem for those enforcing the law, it's a problem for you. Ignorance of the law is no excuse as an average citizen, but if an enforcer makes a mistake and dishevels an honest person's life? Much more often than not, the victim just has to take it and move on, and there are no consequences for the mistake.
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