Oh Dear
Get your jackboots, you may need them. Or as Bubba calls it, getting drafted in The War on Drugs. Here’s the text of the bill. The section I’m referring to states:
`SEC. 425. (a) It shall be unlawful for any person who witnesses or learns of a violation of sections 416(b)(2), 417, 418, 419, 420, 424, or 426 to fail to report the offense to law enforcement officials within 24 hours of witnessing or learning of the violation and thereafter provide full assistance in the investigation, apprehension, and prosecution of the person violating paragraph (a).
`(b) Any person who violates subsection (a) of this section shall be sentenced to not less than two years or more than 10 years. If the person who witnesses or learns of the violation is the parent or guardian, or otherwise responsible for the care or supervision of the person under the age of 18 or the incompetent person, such person shall be sentenced to not less than three years or more than 20 years.’.
So, tell on your neighbors if they commit a certain drug crime or go to jail. Unbelievable. The legislation is sponsored by Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI). More at The Huffington Post.
May 19th, 2005 at 9:11 am
Isn’t Sensenbrenner the guy behind the Real ID thingy?
May 19th, 2005 at 9:50 am
The search is no longer valid.
May 19th, 2005 at 10:51 am
yeah…Sensenbrener is a real friend of civil liberties, isn’t he?
May 19th, 2005 at 11:18 am
So, the Sgt. Schultz defense will nolonger work? “I know nothing, I see nothing!”
May 19th, 2005 at 11:32 am
Do I have to carry a copy of US Code around with me so I know what “sections 416(b)(2), 417, 418, 419, 420, 424, or 426” are?
Because right now, you could strip naked, paint yourself day-glo orange, and violate each and every one of those sections while standing on my desk and I wouldn’t know if you were violating those sections.
May 19th, 2005 at 1:17 pm
It’s my humble opinion that folks like Sensenbrenner and Kansas Senator Pat Roberts are trying to incite a rebellion, and will NOT stop until they do.
May 19th, 2005 at 8:52 pm
Here is a better link: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c109:H.R.1528:
May 20th, 2005 at 10:04 am
Just what we need, a nation of informers, like the USSR. It’s time to distribute 50 million pitchforks and surround all the legislatures.
May 20th, 2005 at 10:06 am
Pitchfork, my ass.
May 20th, 2005 at 10:21 am
Point taken, Uncle.
May 20th, 2005 at 10:22 am
Will the armed forces refuse to gun us down, as in Russia 1991? I have my doubts.
May 20th, 2005 at 3:18 pm
Yeah, this makes sense. You catch your 14 year old kid toking on a jay and you fail to tell the cops. The later catch the kid, and you wind up doing at least 3 years (up to 20) hard time. The kid gets, what, probation and drug counseling?
But, if you catch the neighbor’s 14 y.o. kid smokin’ a bowl you get 2-10 years, and the kid still only gets probation and drug counseling.
Someone please exlain to me how failing to snitch on a kid for a crime that only garners probation and counseling can get you at least 2 years, and up to 20 years in the slammer?