Monday, April 10, 2017
Blog Stage 7: Original editorial or commentary #2
During this year's legislative session, the Texas Legislature has recently passed House Bill 2908 (HB 2908). What this does is it essentially increases the severity of the punishment for crimes towards law enforcement and other peace officers. Peace officer is just a another way of referring to law enforcement. While I agree that committing violence against the police is a huge no-no, I don't believe this is the right way to solve the issue.
The first thing is that because the consequences are more severe, it could dissuade others from fighting a case against them. For example, the blog post from which THIS post is based on: "Bad Enhancement Bill Boosts Pressure for False Convictions" by Grits for Breakfast talked about a man named Carlos Flores who was accused of assaulting a police officer, but in fact HE was the one who was assaulted by the officer himself. Despite doing no wrong and only acting in self defense, Flores pleaded no contest because he didn't want to risk losing in a trial, as he did not want to risk the incredibly harsh punishment. This happened in 2009, a while before House Bill 2908 was passed. The fact that innocent people are already getting wrongfully punished is an absolutely terrible thing, and should this bill be passed, the likelihood of this could potentially increase.
Another point that I want to touch on is that the punishment for assaulting a police officer is already pretty severe, so making it even more so in some instances seem like it has gone overboard. This is why in the Carlos Flores' example above, Flores decided to plead guilty even before this bill was passed. The Grits for Breakfast blog post I mentioned says that under this new bill, something like assault while intoxicated could mean "first degree felony (up to life in prison) if the victim is a police officer". This is absolutely crazy considering the fact that first degree felonies generally go towards murder, robbery, kidnap, etc. Also, what if the person who was being charged couldn't afford their own lawyer? This could potentially increase the chance of them losing the case, and suffering the absurd consequences.
Ultimately, I believe that House Bill 2908 is unnecessary. I understand the need to protect public servants and I completely support that idea, but as discussed above, this bill could definitely be taken advantaged of. Police officers could use this as a way to cover their own mistakes and actions, which could potentially lead to innocent people being accused and even punished. Also, those who did commit a crime could be punished to a degree that was completely over the severity of their crimes, which simply does not make sense and would not be fair. I think a reasonable solution would be to simply abandon this bill. There should be some other way to deal with this, possibly a way where peace officers can operate safely and also not at the expense of the people.
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I really like this post and the topic being discussed. I completely agree that making punishment more severe is not necessary. The example of what punishment an intoxicated person who assaulted an officer would receive under the new bill was a punishment of possible life in prison. For obvious reasons this seems overboard to me. Who do you usually want to avoid when intoxicated? Police. Who is usually an asshole to you when you do have to face them intoxicated? Police. Who is a drunk person most likely not going to be nice to? Police.
ReplyDeleteI am not making excuses for these people but I am saying this is common nature and this law could be very harsh on people who really just had too much to drink and opened their big mouth or thought they could get away with pushing an officers hand off them. Drunk people are rarely tame and tend to be rowdy which officers know. Any officer would be in a position to taunt a drunk person knowing how severe their consequences will be, which sometimes I think is all that really matters to cops. It would just be very unfortunate for someone to get a PI that turns into life in prison. Lets focus on the real criminals that need to be detained first.
The 3 experiences I have had with cops have been awful so I am definitely biased. But police officers often try to make it hard to get along with them because of what blatant assholes they tend to be (not all of them obviously). Cops are people just like us; they can be unfair, they make mistakes and they don't live in a world of black and white rules.
Assaulting a cop can be even the most minor of touches. Does it make sense to send someone to jail for touching another human?? What about all of the incidents of cops KILLING innocent or unarmed people. Forced resignation, maybe an investigation and a court date but I can guarantee none of them received life in prison. With this being said it just doesn't make sense to put cops on a hierarchy where they can't be touched unless you want life in prison. We are all humans including the boys in blue; lets not forget.
In an entry from my fellow colleague, it is discussed that Texas has passed House Bill 2908 through legislation. This bill will make consequences of crimes against law enforcement more severe. I agree completely with my colleague in the opinion that this is an unnecessary bill. I do not condone the assault of a police officer, but I definitely do not think that there needs to be further severity in the repercussions for doing so. It is sad but true that crimes against citizens and injustices by police officers have been a common topic in the media. With the times we are in, I understand that maybe the House thinks they are protecting their officers from angry citizens by passing this bill--but I don't believe this is the way to go about invoking peace. What should be looked at is the police force themselves, and ensuring that they are serving this country justly. There needs to be action taken to make sure our police officers are really serving us and not racially discriminating. Reacting to the ugly injustices committed by law enforcement in this country by threatening to further punish citizens is completely inappropriate and is not solving the real problem at hand. It is disgusting that there has been so little done for the people and families that have been killed and harmed by the people that are supposed to be protecting them, but legislation is passed for law enforcement seemingly with ease.
ReplyDeleteMy colleague also makes a good point in referencing "Bad Enhancement Bill Boosts Pressure for False Convictions". If the problem at hand is that we are unable to trust our law enforcement, why are we giving them more power to harm us? If we can't rely on them to be honest and morally just, why would we trust them to not twist stories around in their favor to put citizens in jail? These are questions that need to be addressed by the legislature. It has been a reoccurring theme that the governing body ignores the injustices committed against citizens--minorities in particular. It is long overdue that action is taken in favor of the people that are being oppressed. These things can not be ignored if we want to live in a country that truly strives for equality, not just one that exploits different races for gain when it's convenient but ignores the crimes committed against them.