Quote from: donut on March 01, 2014, 03:12:53 PM

Quote from: KeyserSoze on March 01, 2014, 02:54:51 PM

Quote from: Amechan on March 01, 2014, 02:47:17 PM

Doesn't that go against the whole guilty until proven innocent thing?

People often joke that "America has the worst form of government on the planet except for all the others." It ain't perfect.

There's a "stop and frisk" law in New York now. Basically if you look suspicious they can just stop you and search your person. That seems incredibly un-American to me (an American) yet it exists, seemingly in direct contradiction to "innocent until proven guilty" and the search laws we already have on the books.

False, "looking suspicious" isn't enough legally:

http://law.onecle.com/new-york/criminal-procedure/CPL0140.50_140.50.html

a police officer may stop a person in a public place located within the geographical area of such officer's employment when he reasonably suspects that such person is committing, has committed or is about to commit either (a) a felony or (b) a misdemeanor defined in the penal law, and may demand of him his name, address and an explanation of his conduct.

Legally, lol, but in real life how does it work? There's a Youtube video of a kid who was tired of being harassed for "looking suspicious" so he records his next stop.
http://www.thenation.com/article/170413/stopped-and-frisked-being-fking-mutt-video

There's plenty of other violations of this ridiculous law, which is why there shouldn't be a fucking "stop and frisk" law. Stop and frisk AFTER a crime has been committed. You know, that crazy "innocent until proven guilty" thing. Troubling, I know. We do not arrest for thought crimes, or at least we're supposed to have grown beyond that.