• One murder every 33 minutes. (1)
• One violent crime every 5.5 seconds. (2)
• One robbery every 50 seconds. (2)
• One assault every 6.5 seconds. (2)
• One theft every 2 seconds. (2)
• One burglary every 10 seconds. (2)
• One rape/sexual assault every 2 minutes. (2)
• 62 women are victimized by an intimate every hour. (2)
• A child is abused and/or neglected in America every 36 seconds. (3)
• Every 19 seconds a violent crime is committed against a person at work or on duty. (4)
• A person is killed in an alcohol-related traffic crash every 41 minutes. (5)
• An identity theft is reported every 6 minutes. (6)
• 3 women and/or men become victims of stalking every minute. (7)

The above information comes from The National Center for Victims of Crime (http://tinyurl.com/92wtfp)

For whatever reason, in spite of this information, we do not allow police officers to do random searches of people walking, driving, sitting, or otherwise utilizing public spaces (yet, anyway) to determine if they carry illegal weapons, stolen property, or any other evidence that they have committed, or are about to commit, a crime, without PARTICULARIZED information that THAT PARTICULAR INDIVIDUAL they wish to search has committed, or is about to commit, a crime, AND actually probably has the evidence on them. Even then, they’ll usually need some kind of a warrant.

The fact that some few individuals (even including you) may have carried weapons into a courtroom does not justify a search of EVERY human being who enters the courtroom. Allowing broad police powers in violation of the Fourth Amendment would prevent a lot of crimes, solve many others and arguably put more criminals in jail. But, for some reason, the Founders of our Nation didn’t think that was good enough.

It’s probably because of this pesky little thing we have, but no longer regard with much respect, called “unalienable rights.” And, although we had them long before there was a United States Constitution, even the United States Constitution recognizes this. (Note: The United States Constitution doesn’t “give” us these rights. It RECOGNIZES them; the document writers and ratifiers knew that we already had these rights and did not believe the document gave these rights. In fact, the Bill of Rights came about only because opponents to the Constitution feared that the government would forget that these rights pre-existed the document. So they insisted on the Bill of Rights as a reminder that “these are lines you cannot cross, Government.”

How prescient. How quaint. How missed.

Endnotes

1. (1) Federal Bureau of Investigation. (2002). Crime in the United States, 2001. Washington, D.C.: Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Department of Justice.
2. (2) Rennison, Callie. (2002). Criminal Victimization in the United States 2001: Changes 2000-2001 with Trends 1993-2001. Washington, D.C.: Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice.
3. (3) Children’s Bureau. (2002). Child Maltreatment 2000. Washington, D.C.: Children’s Bureau, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
4. (4) Duhart, Detis. (2002). Violence in the Workplace, 1993-99. Washington, D.C.: Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice.
5. (5) National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. (2002). Alcohol Inolvement in Fatal Crashes, 2000. Washington, D.C.: NHTSA, U.S. Department of Transportation.
6. (6) Federal Trade Commision. (2002). Identity Theft Complain Data: Figured and Trends on Identity Theft January 2001 through December 2001. Washington, D.C.: Federal Trade Commision.
7. (7) Tjaden & Thoeness. (1998). Stalking in America: Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey. Washington, D.C.: National Instititute of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice.

After a DA took his piece behind 13 and due to threats to shoot hisself over a love affair….

And another defense attorney brought mace into the courtroom on accident..(keychain spray, and it was me..)

And then there’s another suspected wacko defense attorney who was making threats and acting a fool after he picked up a plethora of charges…

It just might be a good thing this new security.

By the way.. they do wave me through. No badge or anything, just good looks I guess.

On the plus side, I am sure speedy in airports now!

Amy Kleinpeter´s last blog post..What are your rights when someone fraudulently takes money from your bank account?