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IP: Re: I find this outrageous!!
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2001 12:09:13 -0400
To: farber () cis upenn edu cc: lauren () vortex com Subject: Re: IP: Re: I find this outrageous!! Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2001 09:03:33 -0700 From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com> FYI -- NOT FOR IP Years ago, a female friend of mine lived in an area of the city here where there was theoretically no overnight street parking, but it was understood that the parking tickets they got would be dismissed by the court anyway. So, like everyone else, she parked overnight a lot and piled up a number of tickets which she ignored, like everyone else in the area. One day a pair of cops come up to her house (she lived with her parents at the time, she was maybe 18 or 20 or some such), handcuffed her, and arrested her for the unpaid tickets. A real embarrassment. Of course, the judge went ballistic, and threw out all the tickets -- noting it was common practice to dismiss them in that area! But hey, the cops got to do a nice, safe arrest and avoid doing any serious work. It's interesting to compare treatment of minor "offenders" in the U.S. with much of Europe, where unlike here, handcuffing, chaining, and public parading and humiliation (like what was done here to Susan McDougal) is the exception rather than the rule. The cops claim that such "security" is to protect the prisoner (theory being, the police can't claim they were attacked if the prisoner is restrained). But for minor offenses, we know what it's really all about -- humiliation. And in fact, even SCOTUS in their ruling yesterday seemed to imply that humilation was A-OK. I figure that stocks, pillories, and public floggings will be next (the last one the most likely -- people in the U.S. loved it when that kid got caned in Singapore, and some states have already tried to re-introduce flogging). --Lauren--
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