Letter of the law vs. Spirit (warning: rant)

[noons]

I know I haven't been on in a while, but I'd like to bring up a topic (the one in the thread title) and share my opinion on it.




If I hear "the law is the law" or "rules are rules" as some kind of blanket justification for all the ridiculous actions of law enforcement and sick ways in which the justice system applies the law and screws over the little guy in the process one more time, I'm going to break a lot of laws, most of which concern property damage.


Discuss.

[wraggy]

If you were in Victoria, Australian and not Boston, I would conclude that you just received a massive speed camera fine.

[sankari]

noons, we need some context before we can discuss this issue in any meaningful way. What did you have in mind?

[noons]

When I posted, I had this story in mind:

www.khou.com/home/Honor-Student-Jailed-for-Absences-153847275.html

The short is that a 17 year old girl who has little to no parental support was working full-time and part-time to support her siblings, and she was still making the honor roll at her school. However, due to understandable exhaustion, she missed a lot of classes, or didn't show up on time, yet still maintained honor roll status. So, a judge decided to throw her in jail for a night for truancy. Now she's got a record. So a hard working, responsible and self-reliant American is given a criminal record for putting the well being of her family, and her studies, above arbitrary rules that serve no one but a bureaucratic system.

This is just one of countless ridiculous cases in the US of an innocent person being screwed over by the system. And yet, it can always be justified by a "the law is the law" mentality. It is also, of course, why the concept of the Spirit of the Law versus the Letter of the Law is so important.

[Mike D]

That is obscene: you would expect the system to support the girl and help her, not make her situation worse. I can see why this kind of thing gets you angry - it has the same effect on me - and I am genuinely puzzled how the law gets into the position where it is so actively opposed to justice.

[sankari]

I'm in Texas right now, and I can tell you the locals are up in arms about this. It absolutely defies all reason.

If a kid is working hard to support her family and still attending school when she can, she should be congratulated and encouraged, not penalised.

[noons]

Fortunately, all charges have been dropped. However, the bigger problem I can see here is that so many times this "law is the law" mentality is used to justify incredibly stupid and unjust actions on the part of the justice system and law enforcement, and the only result is that ordinary, otherwise law-abiding citizens get screwed over, while real criminals get off easy.

[sandwiches]

I am not sure that it is the judiciary or the police who are the worst examples of this kind of attitude; after all, it is their job to uphold the law. When I saw the opening post I thought of this recent example in the news:

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2151270/Woman-student-22-savagely-raped-thrown-night-bus-20p-short-cost-fare.html


Woman student, 22, 'savagely raped' after she was thrown off night bus because she was 20p short on cost of fare


‘The fare was £5. She had only £4.80. The bus driver would not waive the 20p.