Cool Dood said:
That's just silly. I said the vast majority of laws, in order not to include the laws against actions that actually harm victims. You just named most of them in one sentence, and how many laws would you say apply to you in your jurisdiction -- a hundred thousand? a million? ten million? A tiny, tiny number of laws are good, and the rest tend to be more harmful than the activity they're supposed to prevent.
I'm not the defender of every law ever written. There are
some dumb laws, and some that cause harm. But to say that the overwhelming majority is dumb and harmful is plain wrong. While I thought you might be engaging in some hyperbole in your original post, you claim otherwise. I’ve got to call you on that statement.
But, we’re talking about jury duty experiences here, so let’s confine the discussion to that arena. And I think I’m correct in assuming that we’re not talking about contract law. That leaves criminal law.
From our past postings I think it safe to assume that we don’t necessarily agree on all aspects of drug laws. And even though I don’t agree, within the four corners of this particular discussion I am going to say “let’s decriminalize all narcotics, drugs and marijuana” – just to keep from travelling over ground covered elsewhere.
So what does that leave? Here are the laws that –once you exclude the civil stuff – will result in trials in which you might be called upon to the decider of fact. (I included Texas because I don’t know where you live and I am familiar with the laws)
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode18/usc_sup_01_18_10_I.html
and
http://tlo2.tlc.state.tx.us/statutes/petoc.html
Since only a
”… tiny, tiny number of laws are good… it should be a simple matter for you to pick out a few of the bad ones. Have at it.
Just to save you some time and trouble I’ll cover a couple of probable areas here and now.
Prostitution – I would be in favor of legalizing prostitution on one simple condition – if it could be made safe for all participants. If you think that is already the case then come visit me and I’ll take you to the grave of some prostitutes who were murdered by their pimps, or to the local safe-houses where women who were rescued after being forced into the sex-industry might tell you how “victimless” it all really is.
Gambling – I’m all in favor of it, with yet another minor provision. Finding a way to keep gambling addicts from spending
other peoples’ money. Few things sucked more about my last job than fielding calls from people who complained about their spouse gambling away all of the family’s money and now the kids are going without food and they're being evicted from their home.
Private consensual sexual activity between competently consenting adults (other than prostitution). Go for it dude (or should that be Dood)?
If you exclude the things I’ve already taken off the table, that leaves about 95+% of criminal law still on the books. I’m interested in knowing what laws you find so objectionable that you would bring you to violate your oath as a juror and engage in nullification.