America the Police State

[Atrocities]

I am reading an article about the over criminalization of US Society. LINK (Foxnews.com)

"When you start moving to that third-world model, where even law abiding people are afraid of police, it�s a big step backward for civilization, and even law enforcement in general," Kopel said

The book chronicles several horror stories.

There�s 8-year-old Hamadi Alston (search) of New Jersey, who was put in a jail cell in 2003 for five hours for using an L-shaped piece of paper he found in a book as a play gun in the schoolyard. There have been numerous reports of people � even children � being arrested and detained with handcuffs for eating in Washington, D.C., subway stations.

Schoolteacher Hope Clarke was hauled off a cruise ship in 2003 allegedly for not paying a fine for leaving marshmallows at a Yellowstone National Park campsite. After being detained for 10 hours, she was taken into shackles before a judge, who by that time acknowledged she really did pay the fine.

Dave Kopel of the Independence Institute (search) in Denver said aggressive law enforcement has become increasingly a problem since the 1990s, when more agencies incorporated SWAT teams and governments wanted tougher zero-tolerance policies.

We know first hand around here about stupid laws. A car prowler cought by the car owner is let free, with a ticket, and the car owner is arrested and charged with assualt. Go figure.