There's been a lot of talk lately about how we "need" more laws. People across the country are head-over-heels for news laws & have been for some time. On any given day, it's hard to not hear an argument as to why we "need" new laws about texting while driving, owning guns, putting GPS units on criminals & even laws to force Facebook to go back to previous incarnations. Such claims are simply ridiculous in many ways. The world is not your keeper or your babysitter or your mom or your etiquette maven. We have so many laws right now that we can't even enforce them all -- just ask anyone who has ever been a victim of a crime; Many criminals who face prosecution get a mere slap on the wrist for their wrongs except in extraordinary circumstances.
We have laws to punish you for driving like an idiot. They're called traffic laws & there are many on the books all across the nation. Things like DUI or careless/reckless driving can cost a person their drivers license temporarily or permanently. Violations of these laws (and others) are created with provisions for prison terms & extremely high fines. Clearly they aren't properly enforced or else every fool on a cell phone (or eating a hamburger or watching a movie or playing with the GPS) would be severely punished for dangerous driving, property damage & especially injuries to persons.
Rather than create a bunch more laws that won't be enforced, why don't we find ways to streamline enforcement of the existing laws? The simplest way to do this would be tougher sentencing, which would make it more difficult for people who cause big problems to plea bargain down to silly pseudo-punishments. There's been some talk lately about the "need" to put GPS units on violent offenders with domestic violence charges. In theory, it's a nice way to try to keep victims of such heinous crimes safe but it's completely impractical.
Imagine the logistics of designing the new laws, setting up the program, buying the equipment, staffing the monitoring centers, enforcing violations & everything else it would entail. It makes a lot more sense to give offenders stiffer sentences. If they weren't out on the street, they couldn't continue to harass or injure their victims. Why should GPS replace the current home confinement methods? The only reasons I can see would be to either give offenders more freedome (which is the last thing we should do) or because we can't properly implement the existing program, in which case we should improve it.
Stop trying to reinvent the wheel, people. Too many cooks do indeed spoil the broth & the end result is a complicated buffet which can only be enjoyed by the undeserving gluttons. Our elected officials must stop bowing to pressure from foolish causes, no matter how well-intentioned. And they certainly must cease to accept money from legal groups, as trial lawyers everywhere exist solely to profit from putting criminals back on the streets too soon or get a feather in their cap for a successful prosecution, no matter how weak the end result.
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