Jail
Use the crosswalk… Or else…
Most of the time, I find myself ranting about the flaws in our legal system, but today we have a unfortunate example of a man who appears to have a rather poor grasp of the basics, and subsequently cause himself a little more grief than neccesary:
Leroy Franklin Cladd Jr. was cited for not using a crosswalk late Thursday night. He balked at signing the ticket, a misdemeanor that landed him in jail. He was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time, police said. – [Yahoo/AP]
OK. To be fair, I can see where this guy erred. Honestly, why would they throw you in jail for jaywalking? But that’s the problem. They didn’t throw him in jail for jaywalking. They threw him in jail for refusing to answer to the charge of jaywalking. Big difference.
In case you don’t see the difference, let me spell it out for you. Jaywalking. No big deal. But if, perchance, you get caught by a bored officer with nothing better to do, you get a citation. The citation is merely a charge, an accusation of an infraction. Your signature on a citation is not an admission of guilt or innocence, it is simply a way of legally ensuring that you will show up, to either challenge the accusation, or admit guilt and make restitution.
If you don’t sign, you are not legally bound to voluntarily answer to the charge at a later date, so the only way to ensure that this happens is to arrest you on the spot, throw you in jail, and bring you before the next available judge. It’s that simple. It may seem a little harsh for a crime as piddling as jaywalking, but there you have it. The law ain’t perfect.
Seriously, the man should have just signed the doggone citation. At least that way, he might have had a few drinks at the bar before they came and arrested him for not showing up in court…
Fla. man jailed for jaywalking – [Yahoo/AP]
Creative sentencing at it’s best…
It seems like the law is such a grey, mundane, unrelentingly incarcerant and financially motivated institution nowadays. I suppose criminals are no less forgiving so it is warranted. Nonetheless I always find it refreshing to see justice meted that isn’t simply about jail time and cash:
PAINESVILLE, Ohio – Painesville Municipal Judge Michael Cicconetti agreed to suspend a 30-day jail sentence if they wear the costume between 4 and 7 p.m. Friday outside the court while carrying a sign that reads “No Chicken Ranch in Painesville.”
The sign and costume refer to the “World Famous Chicken Ranch,” a prostitution house in Nevada where sex-for-money is legal. …
… Cicconetti has used barnyard animals to dispense justice in the past.
He ordered a man who called a policeman a pig to stand next to a live pig in a pen and hold a sign that read “This Is Not a Police Officer.” A couple who stole a baby Jesus statue from a manger were sentenced to dress as Mary and Joseph and walk with a donkey. – [Yahoo/AP]
I honestly don’t know if this is a result of some subconcious rebellious streak in my nature, or my love for creative solutions to problems, but I like this the way this judge rolls…
Soliciting sex draws fowl sentence for 3 - [Yahoo/AP]
The love of money is the root of all… Stupidity.
A group of Chinese bank employees tried to court Lady Luck a little bit too aggressively. And got dumped. Big time:
Five Chinese men accused of stealing 51 million yuan (6.7 million dollars) and then buying lottery tickets in an attempt to win the money back went on trial Tuesday, state media reported. …
… Ren actually replaced the missing funds after he won the lottery.
But Ren became bolder when he began collaborating with Ma, stealing another 50.95 million yuan from the bank during a 30-day period between March and April.
They spent a total of 47 million yuan on lottery tickets in Handan, but failing to win, went on the lam in mid-April, only to be arrested by police days later. – [Yahoo/AFP]
Now come on people, given the infinitesimally small percentage of people that are actually guaranteed to win the lottery, how many of you would rely on the lottery as the hinge pin of an bank embezzlement scheme? I’m not bank administrator, and I don’t even consider myself particularly good at math, but I’ve done the math on this, and though it varies from lottery to lottery, I’m pretty sure that winning the lottery purely by the buying of tickets en mass is not altogether particularly cost effective, and is certainly not guaranteed.
I guess if you aren’t using your own money, then maybe you might be a little more flippant about it, but having successfully done it once, (and reaped what I’m sure were relatively “meager” rewards) why would you take the risk of doing it a second time? Insanity? Greed? Both? I’ll admit I’m not a gambling man by any stretch of the imagination, but the practice of “Quitting while you’re ahead” is a well known concept, even to me…
Bumbling Chinese bank robbers on trial for bizzare lottery heist – [Yahoo/AFP]
How to tell when college is not for you…
When you have to rob banks to pay the tuition…
A college student accused of robbing a bank had been worried for months about his mounting tuition bills, his mother said.
“He just really was struggling, working two jobs here, you know, temp jobs, two jobs and trying to get the money,” said Franki Butler, whose son Andrew was charged this week with robbery. Andrew Butler, 19, and another man were arrested Tuesday after a Valley Central Savings Bank in suburban Reading was robbed, police said. Police recovered an undisclosed amount of cash. – [Yahoo/AP]
I will say this. College is not for everyone. You go to college so you can avoid having to resort to things like robbing banks to pay your bills. Not the other way around. If you really can’t find of a better way to pay your fees than to rob a bank, then maybe, just maybe, you shouldn’t go…
Teen accused of robbing bank for tuition – [Yahoo/AP]
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