Do Laws Prevent Bad Behavior?

[jaF0]

I say no. Not really. Laws are like locks. They keep honest people honest. They may help keep some marginal people on the good side of the law. They do not however prevent someone from doing wrong. No one has ever been stopped from doing something simply because there is a law against it. Some may have been stopped before doing something bad because they got arrested for planning it. No one has ever not killed someone or robbed a bank simply because there was a law against doing so.

In fact, the abundance of laws make nearly all of us 'criminals'. The number of laws on the books, many of them very obscure make it nearly impossible for adults not to break one or more nearly every day, whether we know they exist or not.

Do you even know all of the laws in your location?

Hell, we see it right here on Lit. People break laws all the time here by posting certain content, and I'm not talking about Lit rules. Don't ask me to cite specidic codes, because I don't know all of the laws in my own area, let alone those of other states or countries. But we know new laws have been passed in certain states regarding Lit type content. I see peopple posting from foreign countries (or claiming to) where Lit type stuff could get them executed due to their extreme laws.

There are still a lot of 'blue laws' around the US formally prohibiting various forms of sex, but none of them stop people from taking part.

How do laws really even prevent access to things? They don't. I live in a dry county. No alcohol sales. But I can go to the next county and buy all I want. I can even have some types of it shipped to me.

 

[Bray123]

They can do. In countries where access to firearms are severely restricted it makes armed robberies and school shootings more difficult.

 

[Chernosoth]

There are some porn videos titled Bad Behavior. It can also be part of a campaign slogan. I don't see how it could be legislated.

 

[Dribble]

When my daughter was three...after buckling her in the carseat and pulling out of the driveway...she said I love you daddy. I love you too sweetie. No...I really love you...you aren't wearing your seat belt. She was right.

Laws mean little until you look at them from a point of morality. Do I want to teach my children laws you disagree with have ways to be changed...or do I want to teach them laws I disagree with are to be ignored?

So the question...do laws prevent bad behavior? The correct answer is yes...for those of us with moral epititude to know the difference between right and wrong.

 

[ll74]

Yes, they do.

Saying they don't prevent all bad behavior doesn't prove that they don't prevent that behavior.

 

[Comshaw]

I say no. Not really. Laws are like locks. They keep honest people honest. They may help keep some marginal people on the good side of the law. They do not however prevent someone from doing wrong. No one has ever been stopped from doing something simply because there is a law against it. Some may have been stopped before doing something bad because they got arrested for planning it. No one has ever not killed someone or robbed a bank simply because there was a law against doing so.

In fact, the abundance of laws make nearly all of us 'criminals'. The number of laws on the books, many of them very obscure make it nearly impossible for adults not to break one or more nearly every day, whether we know they exist or not.

Do you even know all of the laws in your location?

Hell, we see it right here on Lit. People break laws all the time here by posting certain content, and I'm not talking about Lit rules. Don't ask me to cite specidic codes, because I don't know all of the laws in my own area, let alone those of other states or countries. But we know new laws have been passed in certain states regarding Lit type content. I see peopple posting from foreign countries (or claiming to) where Lit type stuff could get them executed due to their extreme laws.

There are still a lot of 'blue laws' around the US formally prohibiting various forms of sex, but none of them stop people from taking part.

How do laws really even prevent access to things? They don't. I live in a dry county. No alcohol sales. But I can go to the next county and buy all I want. I can even have some types of it shipped to me.

Your title question: "Do Laws Prevent Bad Behavior?"

Then you state: "Laws are like locks. They keep honest people honest." Which is very true.

Then you answer your own title question in the affirmative: "They may help keep some marginal people on the good side of the law."

However, even after answering your own question in the affirmative, you go on to claim laws don't work because some people break them, leaving the unstated opinion that because they do not work we shouldn't have them.


So a quick distillation of your post: you ask if laws prevent bad behavior, go on to state they do work by keeping honest people honest (which is a classic paradox statement) and they also may work to keep some "marginal" people on the good side of the law, then state that laws don't work at all.

So which one of those is your core argument? do laws work or don't they? If they keep honest people honest and some marginal people within the law, then they work, not 100% but they work. Because a faction of people choose to break the law, it does not mean laws aren't effective in other instances as in your examples of honest and marginal people. If your lead statement had been "Do laws prevent bad behavior 100% of the time", which most would agree is not possible, then your following statements would seem to make some sense.

Confusing. Very, very confusing.


Comshaw

​

 

[jaF0]

Confusing. Very, very confusing.

Just like Law itself. We have ways to remove people from society that break laws. But what about those who are supposed to be administering Justice? We have good cops, we have bad cops, we have marginal cops who will defend bad cops only becasue they don't want people to know there are bad cops.

How about Prosecutors? Is an aggressive Prosecutor diligent? Or rouge? We have cases now where aggressive Prosecutors are at risk of losing their jobs for being aggressive. And yet there are a great many people in prison because fo a malicious prosecution by a rouge attorney. Who decides?

Judges? I can think of a dozen or more who should be removed from the bench. Others think they're doing a great job. I've posted stories here where in one example, a Judge thought it would ruin a young guy's life to be convicted of rape and sentenced to prison. We have a guy in Texas who thinks he can second guess the FDA.

The answer is that there is no one answer.

There was a story out recentlyt that more and more homicides are going unsolved. People are getting away with murder. Laws are not stopping them.

Laws alone do not prevent bad behavior. Laws are seen as guidelines that some choose to obey and others disregard. Our inner guide tells us which is which, whether red is grey, yellow is white, which is right and which is an illusion.

 

[Comshaw]

Just like Law itself. We have ways to remove people from society that break laws. But what about those who are supposed to be administering Justice? We have good cops, we have bad cops, we have marginal cops who will defend bad cops only becasue they don't want people to know there are bad cops.

How about Prosecutors? Is an aggressive Prosecutor diligent? Or rouge? We have cases now where aggressive Prosecutors are at risk of losing their jobs for being aggressive. And yet there are a great many people in prison because fo a malicious prosecution by a rouge attorney. Who decides?

Judges? I can think of a dozen or more who should be removed from the bench. Others think they're doing a great job. I've posted stories here where in one example, a Judge thought it would ruin a young guy's life to be convicted of rape and sentenced to prison. We have a guy in Texas who thinks he can second guess the FDA.

The answer is that there is no one answer.

There was a story out recentlyt that more and more homicides are going unsolved. People are getting away with murder. Laws are not stopping them.

Laws alone do not prevent bad behavior. Laws are seen as guidelines that some choose to obey and others disregard. Our inner guide tells us which is which, whether red is

grey, yellow is white, which is right and which is an illusion.

You do realize you just moved the goal posts, from laws to those who administer laws, don't you? That said, while the subject of law enforcement and whether the cops, prosecutors and judges are doing their job is a thing to discuss, it was not a part of your prior post. Yet you ver back to your earlier premise of laws and declare they do not in and of themselves stop people from violating them. Anyone with a few working neurons knows that. In your last sentence, you are trying to once again move the goalposts from laws to free will and free choice. As I said before, confusing. Perhaps you should stop and take stock of what it is you are trying to say and what it is you wish to discuss.

Comshaw

 

[PintlerMan]

na, the people participating in bad behavior, don't care about laws. never have, never will.

 

[ll74]

na, the people participating in bad behavior, don't care about laws. never have, never will.

And bad behavior is dictated by law. People actually curb their behavior around laws created.

 

[FGB]

Some do at least a little bit.

Outlaws are gonna be outlaws when and if if they can get away with it.

One needs a phone and a Judge handy.

Mine is .410/45 cal.

I hope I never need either one.

 

[Dribble]

na, the people participating in bad behavior, don't care about laws. never have, never will.

Ask the Proud Boys if they care

 

[Bray123]

Locks deter dishonest people, that's what they're there for. If people were honest we wouldn't need locks.

New laws don't prevent people from committing existing crimes; they create new crimes. It's very difficult to assess the effectiveness of a new law because few accurate statistics are kept on non-existent offences. It's only when people start to get caught by the new legislation that figures can be gathered.

As far as 'prevention' is concerned, it's a combination of education, target-hardening (including locks), deterrence (fear of punishment or other consequences) and peer-pressure (making something unacceptable e.g. domestic violence, smoking, bad language).

 

[phrodeau]

Some do at least a little bit.

Outlaws are gonna be outlaws when and if if they can get away with it.

One needs a phone and a Judge handy.

Mine is .410/45 cal.

I hope I never need either one.

Your gun is a judge? It must use AI.

 

[Dribble]

Your gun is a judge? It must use AI.

He is from Texas...home of more mass murders than any other state. Numbers don't lie.

 

[HisArpy]

Locks deter dishonest people, that's what they're there for. If people were honest we wouldn't need locks.

New laws don't prevent people from committing existing crimes; they create new crimes. It's very difficult to assess the effectiveness of a new law because few accurate statistics are kept on non-existent offences. It's only when people start to get caught by the new legislation that figures can be gathered.

As far as 'prevention' is concerned, it's a combination of education, target-hardening (including locks), deterrence (fear of punishment or other consequences) and peer-pressure (making something unacceptable e.g. domestic violence, smoking, bad language).

And yet you're a proponent of "new laws" against gun ownership, censoring free speech and more, despite acknowledging that these laws won't prevent crime and will only make formerly law abiding citizens into criminals.

Laws don't prevent crime. What they do is create a standard of acceptable behavior based on the cumulative and collective views of society. The law transcribes what happens whenever someone steps outside those boundaries.

The problem we see today is that too many people don't believe the law applies to them. These are the ones seen burning and looting, the ones advocating for change through force, and the ones who are fraudulently altering the legislative landscape in order to enact their forced change agenda on the rest of society. The ones who seek to advance their cause even when it's illegal to do so by redefining words so that the new definitions, no matter how scrambled and illogical, fit their intended outcomes. The ones who claim that obeying the law is "violence" thereby justifying their use of force against the innocent.

Because, as always when it comes to breaking the law, the ends justify the means. Which is not law.

 

[Bray123]

And yet you're a proponent of "new laws" against gun ownership, censoring free speech and more, despite acknowledging that these laws won't prevent crime and will only make formerly law abiding citizens into criminals.

Laws don't prevent crime. What they do is create a standard of acceptable behavior based on the cumulative and collective views of society. The law transcribes what happens whenever someone steps outside those boundaries.

The problem we see today is that too many people don't believe the law applies to them. These are the ones seen burning and looting, the ones advocating for change through force, and the ones who are fraudulently altering the legislative landscape in order to enact their forced change agenda on the rest of society. The ones who seek to advance their cause even when it's illegal to do so by redefining words so that the new definitions, no matter how scrambled and illogical, fit their intended outcomes. The ones who claim that obeying the law is "violence" thereby justifying their use of force against the innocent.

Because, as always when it comes to breaking the law, the ends justify the means. Which is not law.

Did I ever say I was for censoring free speech?

Free speech should be polite and not hateful, otherwise it's abuse and fit only for a MAGA rally. But, carry on making stuff up.

 

[butters]

laws such as making sure your vehicle has a valid MOT, or it being illegal to burn your trash or light fires in certain areas at certain times of the year, having to procure a valid driver's license, not letting your 4-year-old drink alcohol, etc...? yes, they do work even if not 100%. There will always be those who ignore or work around a law, but the main kinds such as i listed are ingrained in everyday society and so seen as norms by many who might not adhere to them if there were no laws restricting such actions. Largely because the majority of the population can see the common sense behind those laws.

 

[HisArpy]

Did I ever say I was for censoring free speech?

Free speech should be polite and not hateful, otherwise it's abuse and fit only for a MAGA rally. But, carry on making stuff up.

Or, in other words, free speech is only that speech you agree with.

 

[Bray123]

Or, in other words, free speech is only that speech you agree with.

If you say so, pillock.

It's not what's said, it's how it's said. Threats of violence are not acceptable but indicating that you need educating is OK - you're a Trump supporter after all.

 

[FGB]

His is fixed up like mine... bought and changed out the grip. Makes all the difference in the world.

Hell on snakes and possums!

https://video.search.yahoo.com/sear...=a310c2ae8ad5ba4c90823bc6094c2fd1&action=view

 

[TastySuckToy]

Laws don't prevent what we call bad behavior, they simply establish society's framework for what is considered acceptable behavior or not, and creates a legal system to deal with those who don't abide by it.

 

[Chernosoth]

The OP is a mod with the job of enforcing rules.

 

[ll74]

Laws don't prevent what we call bad behavior, they simply establish society's framework for what is considered acceptable behavior or not, and creates a legal system to deal with those who don't abide by it.

And by establishing a framework of acceptable behavior, it actually stops people from doing those bad behaviors...i.e. preventing them.

 

[TastySuckToy]

And by establishing a framework of acceptable behavior, it actually stops people from doing those bad behaviors...i.e. preventing them.

The existence of criminals proves you wrong.

And examples like the legalization of marijuana shows that laws prevent nothing, and in fact the laws have to change to accomodate the people.