Angry New Yorker

Semi-Daily Rants from New York City's Angry Man

"As I know more of mankind I expect less of them, and am ready now to call a man a good man, upon easier terms than I was formerly." - Dr. Samuel Johnson, Boswell, Life of Johnson, Sept. 1783

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Tuesday, March 14, 2006
 
More Legislative Madness from Our Knee-Jerk State Legislature

Get this, according to NY1 the "highly-publicized death of Manhattan grad student Imette St. Guillen has inspired a new piece of legislation. The bill called 'Imette's Law' calls for every business with a state liquor license to install security cameras at all entrances and exits of their buildings. St. Guillen's former boyfriend, also a student at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, proposed the idea to Assemblyman Felix Ortiz who sponsored the legislation."

First, why is Assemblyman Ortiz giving special weight to the suggestions of her "former" boyfriend? Though we don't know if the boyfriend was rendered "former" because she's deceased, or that was his status prior to her untimely demise, but in either case, who the hell cares what he is? He's not family, he's not blood, he's not even a "life partner."

Second, whoever started this now full-fledged trend of naming laws after unfortunate victims should be hunted down and flogged. Enough of Amber's Law, Bambi's Law, Little Tiny Baby Snuggles Law! Enough! No mas. Laws apply to all people, and creating laws based on the single tragic consequences of one victim is a trend that is destined to lead us all steadily to ultimate disaster.

Third, let's hope this piece of pandering doesn't pass to begin with, but what would it accomplish? It wouldn't prevent any such crime. It, in theory, might make it somewhat easier to track down someone like the killer here, but hey, the cops didn't have much trouble tracking him down as it is did they?

But since the legislature's only tool is a hammer everything looks like a nail to them. As the good folks over at Power Line noted this past week, "[o]ne of the basic problems in our society is that nearly all informal sanctions have been forfeited, so that there is hardly any middle ground between passive acceptance of antisocial behavior and a felony prosecution. Legislation and criminal prosecution are blunt instruments that cannot be brought to bear against every deviancy that may arise." 'Tis true.

posted by anonymous at 5:16 PM

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