. .know the law to be a citizen, is it then right to punish them for something they did not know was a crime? If law enforcement cant tell if someone is lying about knowing a law or not, are they intelligent enough to be employed in law enforcement?
2006-08-31 14:22:58 · 4 answers · asked by Anonymous in Politics & Government ➔ Law Enforcement & Police
Okay ignorance is innocence, If I knew what laws you are referring to I might understand your question better.
2006-08-31 14:37:04 · answer #1 · answered by longroad 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The reason that "ignorance of the law is no excuse" is that the laws are readily available and published for anyone to read. So, if the court allowed that excuse, people would just refuse to read the rules and thus be immune from prosecution.
However, there is a defense for "good faith misunderstanding" of the law, where the law is particularly complex and where the violation requires willful (deliberate) conduct. While difficult to prove, this does provide some benefit for people who are honestly trying to follow a very complex set of law, but don't succeed.
Besides, it's not the job of the police officer to make factual determinations like that. The whole purpose of the court is to determine whether someone was guilty. A police officer only needs to have probable cause that they might be guilty. That's why we have trials, to get from "probable cause" to "beyond a reasonable doubt".
2006-08-31 21:29:04 · answer #2 · answered by coragryph 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
The fact that they don't "know the law" is no excuse for not following the law. Law enforcement isn't required to BE TRUTH DETECTOR'S but just Law Enforcement. Period.
So, you can't have it both ways, (1) is it "ethical" to punish people to that don't know they're breaking the lawn? and (2) why have law enforcement if they don't know whether someone is telling that someone is telling the truth (this is the part the COURTS PLAY, not the police). So, if we did it YOUR WAY, we would have ANARCHY.
No, thanks!
2006-08-31 21:34:27 · answer #3 · answered by AdamKadmon 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Ignorance of the law is no excuse... having said that I say it depends on the severity of their trespass. But I'm also for public executions for murder, rape, violent crimes against children. Why worry about ethics when dealing with people who were not concerned about the well being of their victims?
I like:
An armed society is a polite society.
2006-08-31 21:31:20 · answer #4 · answered by Archer Christifori 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋