Police

Archive for Police

Further Thoughts on Plea Bargains

I tried to deal with some of the (excellent) objections I got from my last post. An excerpt: Don’t plea bargains minimize the coercion against individuals? As one critic put it, who is the “victim” here? How does a defendant lose by being offered a deal that he has the right to refuse? Although superficially plausible, […]

Government Plea Bargains Are a Horrible Practice

I think you will like this one; it has a plot twist near the end. The opening: Because it is so commonplace, most people accept the practice of State prosecutors offering a “plea bargain” without much thought. After all, it seems like a win-win situation: the State saves on court costs and other resources, while […]

Maybe Libertarians DO Need to Talk About “Privilege” After All?

I’m just kidding with the post title, but here’s what prompted it: Gene Callahan has bought his second (?) vacation/rental home in a private community in the Poconos, and finds that it is more oppressive than the local government he faces in the [edited to add:] rural U.S.: [T]here were a number of small trees […]

St. Louis Powell Shooting: Police Story versus Video

See how much you guys think the video matches up with how the police initially described the shooting of Powell: UPDATE: Well, it’s restricted. You can watch the video directly here.

The Problem With the Police Is That It’s Not Just a Few Bad Apples

(Unless we mean “a few” in the way Krugman does when discussing ObamaCare.) Gene Callahan–author of Economics for Real People and once a frequent co-author with me on libertarian articles–has a new blog post in which he chastises libertarians for their over-the-top denouncement of the police State. Here’s Gene: I received a phone call today […]

Potpourri

==> Dan Sanchez has a great review of the new Captain America movie. However, MAJOR SPOILERS. If you are borderline, I would strongly nudge you to go watch it; it was a lot better than I had hoped. Then after you watch it, read Dan’s review. ==> I was on the Power Trading Radio show […]

Charges Dropped Against New Jersey Man After Dashcam Shows Cops Lying

I encourage you to watch this whole thing. Near the end they explain that the police’s own Internal Affairs investigation had concluded the cops did nothing wrong. Thank goodness the second dash cam video came to light. (Also note that the police didn’t originally turn this over. I don’t understand exactly what changed, but prosecutors […]