Here’s a list of 10 laws you probably break every day:
• Feeding the homeless. In 2014, 90-year-old WW2 veteran Arnold Abbott and two church ministers were arrested for feeding the homeless in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. Mr. Abbott had been feeding the homeless every day for the past 23 years. The newly passed law meant that he and the ministers faced up to 60 days in jail and a $500 fine every time they violated it. After the controversy surrounding his arrest, the law was temporarily halted and charges dropped. However, it is still illegal in more than 33 US cities to feed the homeless.
• Movie streaming. By 2014, the movie streaming app Popcorn Time had been downloaded onto an estimated 1.4 million devices worldwide, despite the website itself warning users that the site is illegal to use. Governments in the UK, Israel, and Denmark have put in place actions to block access to the website due to its breaking copyright law. In 2015, two men in Denmark faced up to 6 years in prison just for operating website guides on how to use the app, despite not linking to the website itself.
• Owning a permanent marker. In 2010, a teacher made a citizen’s arrest after she caught her 13-year-old student writing on a piece of paper with a permanent marker. After the pen was confiscated by police, the student was transported to a juvenile holding facility as punishment. The teacher justified the arrest by citing an Oklahoma City law designed to prevent graffiti, which banned minors from possessing permanent markers on private property. Similar regulations exist in cities across the US, which has made it a crime for under 18’s to even buy the pens.
• Farting. In 2008, Jose Cruz faced battery charges after he was accused of farting and fanning the odorous gas toward a police officer in West Virginia. In custody for drunk driving, he claimed that the fart wasn’t a malicious act, but the result of an upset stomach and being refused his request to use the bathroom. In the same year a 12-year-old student was arrested in Florida when he was accused of deliberately farting to disrupt his class.
• School Holiday. In 2013, strict new rules were put into place across Britain to crack down on parents taking their children on holiday during term time. Under this unauthorized absence law, parents can be fined a minimum of $87 per child, while those that refuse to pay face a $3600 fine or 3-month jail sentence. One couple that took their child on holiday to Australia were given criminal records on their return, after failing to pay the fine. This was despite the mother arguing in court that she’d taken her children on holiday to give them some respite after losing their terminally ill grandmother.
• Connecting to unsecured Wi-Fi. In 2007, a man from Michigan was arrested for parking outside a café every day in order to check his emails from his car using the café’s open Wi-Fi. The Wi-Fi was reserved for paying customers only and under Michigan’s “unauthorized use of computer access” law, his actions meant he faced a five-year sentence and a $10,000 fine. However, due to his ignorance of the law he was breaking, the judge reduced the fine to $400 and ordered him to complete 40 hours of community service.
• Cursing on a bus. In 2010, Terry Duncan made local news when he received a $500 fine for cursing on a bus in Milwaukee, WI. He uttered two offensive words while talking, which started with the letters ‘f’ and ‘s’. He was swearing during a private conversation, unfamiliar with the local law that takes a zero tolerance approach towards disorderly conduct on buses. He was overheard by an undercover deputy sheriff, who escorted him off the bus before serving him with the fine.
• Writing “Disturbing” Material. In 2007, an 18-year-old Chicago high school student was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct after he wrote an essay in his creative writing class that his teacher found disturbing. The students had been instructed to write whatever came into their mind and not to censor their writing. After reading the student’s work, his alarmed teacher reported the essay to the police as it was filled with violent language. Despite being an A student, he was arrested and faced up to 30 days in jail and a $1500 fine, although prosecutors later dropped the charges.
• Betting with friends. In 2005, Dr. Sal Culosi was overheard by an undercover detective betting $50 against his friends on a college football game. The detective befriended Culosi, and over a few months, encouraged him to bet $2000 in a single day on a football game. This $2000 threshold meant that Culosi was breaking Virginia law and it was enough for police to charge him with running a gambling operation. The detective sent in a SWAT team to serve the doctor with a search warrant, but the operation went wrong and police fatally shot the doctor in the chest.
• Sodomy. In 2003, anti-sodomy laws were ruled to be unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court, meaning it was no longer illegal for consenting adults to engage in oral or anal sex. However, despite this ruling, 13 US states still have anti sodomy laws. While these laws cannot be legally enforced due to the Supreme Court ruling, they are still used to prosecute people. In 2005, a man was prosecuted under Virginia’s anti-sodomy laws for engaging in consensual oral sex with two teenage girls. Despite the girls being over the state’s legal age of consent, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison and forced to register as a sex offender.
Amazing that these laws are still on the books in most cases. Have a fangtastic day!<3 Brock V"""V
No comments:
Post a Comment