Sunday, September 28, 2003
This article describes the number one danger of expanded, crime-specific legislation like the Patriot Act - the expanded prosecutorial power can never be contained within the narrow bounds of the particular activity it was targeted at. Witness the RICO act which was meant only to target the Mafia, but has gone on to be used against a range of other activity such as false-advertising, divorce and abortion protest. One may or may not be against any such activity, but the fact remains that extra power was granted to government on the understanding that it was a necessary expansion needed to combat activities almost impossible to pursue under current statute. Since Law is a sledgehammer, not a dentist's tool however, there is always bleed-over into unintended consequences.
It's not that the crimes these new powers are used to combat ought not to be punished, it's simply that if new laws are needed to combat them, then the argument ought to be made on that issue, and not hidden behind false rhetoric. If you need to laws to combat international money-laundering, then make the argument on that issue. Don't point to the Twin Towers to distract from your true intent. One can't blame prosecutors individually for this. If the law is available to do what they need to do, then they'd be negligent not to use it. It's up to the legislature to make sure only good laws are passed and the Constitution is respected, especially as time goes on and the original reasons for certain laws' passage begins to fade - relying on prosecutorial discretion is always a bad idea in the long run.
U.S. Uses Terror Law to Pursue Crimes From Drugs to Swindling
The government is using its expanded authority under the far-reaching law to investigate suspected drug traffickers, white-collar criminals, blackmailers, child pornographers, money launderers, spies and even corrupt foreign leaders, federal officials said.
Justice Department officials say they are simply using all the tools now available to them to pursue criminals — terrorists or otherwise. But critics of the administration's antiterrorism tactics assert that such use of the law is evidence the administration is using terrorism as a guise to pursue a broader law enforcement agenda...
Oh, there is some good news here. Remember that...how shall we say...bitch...that got the entire cruise ship turned around by making terror threats so she could go back and see her boyfriend?
She was "lovesick," so apparently the Times considers that a mitigating factor to making terroristic threats...whatever. See ya in two years, babe.
