Saturday, March 7, 2009

Nashvillians rally around famous local "illegal"; police practice denounced

Comments on Post Politics:
  • "Oh, I know. He did it to himself, by breaking the law. I know that. But this approach of public humiliation of people for this kind of crime — while the much more serious and more violent real criminals I just mentioned are given anything close to comparable treatment — is just flat out wrong."
  • "The practice of public shame as punishment for legal violation that is not significantly criminally sanctioned is puritanical and disgusting."
  • "This is a violation of personal privacy for something that arguably shouldn’t even be a crime..."
  • Unfortunately, this incident has the potential to overshadow a lifetime of contributions to civility and robust discourse in politics. I would urge all of us to remember Teddy’s legacy as the details of this situation unfold.
  • I wish him well. He has done important work. It is always good to try to see the whole person.
The day before the story above broke, HispanicNashville.com ran (this story) on the proper role of law enforcement discretion in Nashville and the need for the punishment to be tailored to the severity of the offense.

Metro Police should be commended for this reminder on their arrest web site:
These individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
That could be one reason (among others) to refrain from using the word "illegal" as a noun when identifying this particular person.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...