[UA] Explain American laws to me

[Kevin Mowery]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Patrick O'Duffy" <redfern at thehub.com.au>
To: <ua at lists.uchicago.edu>
Sent: Friday, September 01, 2000 6:57 AM
Subject: Re: [UA] Explain American laws to me

> Australian government is a lot less hierarchical.  While states have some
> autonomy, and shire councils a little within each state, it's always the
federal
> government calling 90% of the shots/

    It can get a mite confusing over here, but in general you'll deal with
city cops in cities, sheriffs in rural areas, state cops almost solely on
interstate highways, and federal cops only if federal laws are broken.

> For the curious, we call them the Tactical Response Group here in Oz.

    I shall have to remember that.

> If they're primarily selling newspapers, magazines and stationary, they're
> newsagents (one word).  If it's a 7-11 or what have you, we've caught the
US
> phrase 'convenience store'.  Although 'corner shop' is still popular in
regional
> Australia, or with older people.

    I'll remember this, too.  I try to collect bits of regional trivia like
this.  You never know when it'll come in handy in a game.

> >     Yeah, I heard some of this on RPGnet.
>
> Steve Darlington lives about 5 blocks from me; we're finally starting to
play
> together.

    Ah.  Seems like a good man, Steve D.  Also wrote a very long primer for
RPGnet folks on the wide variety of dangerous animals that live in
Australia.  I forwarded it to all my gaming group, who didn't find it nearly
as amusing as I did.

> Pretty much the same here - but with the difference that our 'black'
people here
> are on a similar level of social oppression as the American Indians of the
> 1950s.

    Yeah, we've made a few more advances in the realm of equal rights.  One
pundit commented after the O.J. Simpson trial that it proved we'd finally
achieved racial equality:  a rich black man could buy his way out of a
murder conviction just like a rich white man.

> >     Another thing to consider when talking about law enforcement is the
> > issue of "racial profiling."  Officially, this *never* happens.
>
> Yeah, right.  And Australian police aren't racists, and Aboriginal
prisoners are
> never killed in custody.
>
> Did you ever have that?  Back in the 80s, there was this rash of black
deaths in
> custody.  Some turned out to be suicide; a lot more turned out to be
> police-assisted death, either through neglect or out-and-out murder.

    Oh, it still happens.  The "suicide" angle isn't quite so prevalent as
it was in earlier days, but we still get all sorts of fun stuff.  Every few
months, another prisoner--usually black--gets hog-tied and left on his
stomach here in Ohio.  The result is suffocation.  In New York, Amadou
Diallo (and I know I'm misspelling his name) was sodomized with a toilet
plunger while in police custody by police officers.  In general, if you're
going to get picked up by the cops, it's much safer to be white.

> >     If you're planning on having a lot of cops in your game, I recommend
> > David Simon's _Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets_.
>
> My library has it, but only as a sound recording.  I tried listening to a
Greg
> Rucka novel on tape this week; never again.  Prose is a visual medium for
me,
> I;ve decided, not an aural one.

    It's 100% worth ordering off amazon.com if you're interested.  OTOH, I
can get pretty liberal when I'm spending someone else's money.  :)

> Now personally, as a largely pro-choicish type, I'm okay with that - but
it's
> still kinda wacky.

    Oh, sure, but me and my friends certainly had a good laugh.  A few years
back there was also a rash of religious anti-abortion zealots killing
abortion doctors.  Don't even try to understand the logic behind it, just
smile and nod.

> >     When talking to cops, they are free to lie to you all they want in
order
> > to extract a confession.
>
> There's a lovely practice over here called 'verballing'. Basically, if you
talk
> to a cop, be sure that you're being recorded.  If you aren;t being
recorded, the
> cop can say that you've made a confession to him, and his word carries
more
> weight that yours.

    I won't say that that sort of thing never goes on here, but in general,
confessions are signed statements.  A police officer merely saying you
confessed would be "hearsay" and generally inadmissable.

    The exception to this is the grand jury.  This is where the prosecutor
presents evidence to a jury to get them to agree to indict.  In most cases,
this isn't even necessary.  In murder or organized crime cases it's not
unlikely.  Basically, the prosecutor puts together a jury and presents his
evidence--any evidence, even evidence that would be inadmissable in actual
court.  The accused has no right to be here or present evidence.  98+% of
all grand juries end with an indictment, which is basically saying "Yes,
prosecute this person."

    It's not crooked so much as unnecessary.

> (I had a... run-in with the polcie a few years back.  Not the high point
of my
> life, frankly.)

    The only real run-in I've had with police was after a party in high
school where a bunch of us drank and smoked a bit, then went to a
convenience store.  The lady thought were were trying to rob her and called
the police.  I ended up spending a night in the holding cell.

    A couple of days later, right after I got off the school bus I got
picked up and handcuffed and told that there were reports of someone who
looked like me menacing kids.  I was released a few minutes later, but I
think the message was "Don't screw up anymore."

> > As soon as you ask for a lawyer, the cops are supposed to
> > stop asking you questions.
>
> Forgive me if I'm sceptical about this.  I've _been_ questioned by the
police...

    This is another one of those areas where things sometimes happen, but
the general gist of it is that this is something that can get a case thrown
out of court if it happens.  It's not worth risking the case to badger
someone a little more, and if the lack of badgering means he gets off, well,
he'll be back or they'll get the next guy.  _Homicide_ goes into this
mindset a lot better than I could, but the gist of it is that cops are just
guys doing a job.  They win some, they lose some, and they know that.  They
even pal around with the crooks sometimes.

    In a lot of ways it reminds me of another book I read, _The Good War_ by
Studs Terkel, which is a collection of accounts by World War II veterans.
One guy talked about cease fires in which the American and German soldiers
would collect their wounded, trade smokes, and sometimes just shoot the shit
with each other.  In contrast, things were a bit different in the Pacific.
Fascinating stuff, but I'm going off-topic.

> >     Many people dislike public defenders because they are typically
> > overworked and, let's face it, most of the people they defend are
guilty.
>
> Me, I like them.  I got three years of legal defense, and it didn't cost
me a
> cent.

    Oh, sure, there's that aspect.  It's the *perception* people have of
public defenders rather than the facts.

> --
> Patrick O'Duffy, Brisbane, Australia
>
> Sumo is the most perfect of sports.  It has elegance, ceremony, danger,
> art, speed, and, most important, two fat bastards smacking the shit out
> of each other.
>
>  - Spider Jerusalem, TRANSMETROPOLITAN #26
>
>
>
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Kevin Mowery_____________profbobo at io.com
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