Stone Investigations (Stone Series Book 4) by Bob Blanton (open ebook txt) 📗

offer up other examples.  Seeing no one with their handspoised, he went on.  “Now, let’s divide them into things that have some form ofprotection associated with them.”

“What do you mean by protection?”

“Where the law also has the benefit of protecting thepeople.  Like banning smoking can be argued as protecting people from thehealth risk of second-hand smoke.”

“Public nudity,” Jackson called out.

“How does that protect the public?” a student in the backcalled out.

“Keeps you from wrecking your car when a hot babe walks bywithout any clothes on.”

The class burst out laughing at that.

“Is there another way it protects the public?”

“Isn’t it a health risk to have people walking around naked?”

“Yeah, like, no shirt, no shoes, no service.”

“Correct.  Clothes limit how we spread germs.  I certainlywouldn’t want to sit in a restaurant booth after some naked person had beensitting there.”

That got another laugh.  “Now others that protect people.”

“Laws against drugs.”

“Who does that protect?”

“The person taking the drugs?”

“What about the public?”

“If you take drugs and drive.”

“Then you would pass a law like the one outlawing drinkingand driving.”

“Laws against pedophilia protect young people.”

“Why?”

“Because young children don’t understand about sex.”

“Correct, they cannot consent.”

“The same is true about underage sex.”

“True.  That’s an extension of the laws against pedophilia. Now, others?”

Mr. Ward waited a few minutes before going on.  “Okay, so thelaws that also offer protection might be considered necessary independent ofthe morality of the situation.  One could say that the laws happen to coincidewith current moral thinking.  Now, what about the others?”

“What’s left?”

“You can see the list,” Mr. Ward admonished the class.

“Sin taxes.”

“Prostitution.”

“Drugs.”

“Gay marriage.”

“Gay sex.”

“Okay, so what is the effect of passing laws that ban thosethings?”

“It stops them from happening.”

“Does it?”

“Well, it makes them happen less often.”

“Are you sure?”

“I think so.”

“So what would you say to the study that showed that drug usein Denmark, which has relatively lax drug laws and enforcement is the same as druguse in Sweden where the laws are very strict and zealously enforced.”

“No way!”

“Yep.  Even in this country, during prohibition, alcoholconsumption only dropped thirty percent, except for the first year or two.  So,what do those two examples tell you?”

“That cops do a lousy job.”

“That’s not fair!”

“You’re right, it isn’t fair,” Mr. Ward said.  “But it doespoint out that law enforcement has a difficult time policing these laws.  Whyis that?”

“Nobody wants to narc on their friends.”

“Right!”

“But they’re breaking the law.”

“But they’re not hurting anyone.”

“And that is the heart of the issue,” Mr. Ward said.  “Theseare so-called victimless crimes.”

“But what about prostitution?  It victimizes women.”

“Some people would say that making it illegal, victimizeswomen more.  If it were legal, then the women could go to the police whenthey’re abused.  And they wouldn’t have to pay most of their earnings to ahandler.”

“You mean a pimp!”

“That is one type of handler.”

“So who benefits from these laws?”

“The public!”

“How, if we don’t see a change in the behavior of people,where’s the benefit?”

“It helps politicians get elected,” Matthew said.

“How?” Mr. Ward asked.

“It gives them an issue to campaign on and motivates certaingroups of people to aggressively support them.”

“Very good.  Now, who else benefits?”

Mr. Ward waited two minutes while the class murmured.  “Comeon, you’re ignoring the biggest beneficiary.”

Emily cautiously raised her hand.

“Emily?”

“Organized crime?”

“Correct.  One of the biggest beneficiaries of laws that restrictthe behavior of people is organized crime.  During prohibition, organized crimein the U.S. grew at astounding rates.”

“But how does it benefit them?  You always have criminals.”

“But by making things illegal, you give organized crime acaptured market.  They’re guaranteed to make money.  The demand is there, theyjust have to supply the product.  Al Capone was making over 100 million dollarsa year during prohibition.  In today’s dollars, that would be over one billiondollars a year.”

“Wow!”

“Where would all the money go if these laws didn’t exist?”

“Legitimate businesses.”

“Correct.”

“What about sin taxes?”

“What happens when you tax something heavily?”

“We go to Nevada to buy stuff.”

“Correct.  Most people call that smuggling.  High taxes givesmugglers a guaranteed profit margin.”

“Why can’t law enforcement handle that?  It’s like stealing.”

“Yes and no.  Stealing leaves a larger footprint behind. There’s someone calling the police.  They can trace the goods, find evidence atthe scene.  It’s harder to rob a place than it is to walk in a buy a bunch ofgoods.  In the second case, nobody complains, so all the smuggler has to do isfigure out how to get the goods across the border since it’s mostly avictimless crime.  People tend not to want to narc on a smuggler.”

“So why do we have the laws?”

“Good question, I would suggest that it is to protect the taxrevenue for the state or country.  Now, your term paper for this semester is onthat subject.  I want you to discuss whether we should have these laws andwhy.  You can choose either side, or even take both sides.  Half the work hasbeen done already, so quit groaning.  The paper is due two weeks before the endof term, and since you’ve been so good, you get an extra ten minutes forlunch.  Class, dismissed.”

◆ ◆ ◆

Emily followed Matthew to his locker, “What’s up with Mr.Ward, dismissing class early?”

“I think he didn’t want to talk about the subject anymore,”Matthew said as he grabbed his lunch bag.  “He doesn’t want to prejudice usbefore we write our papers.”

“Maybe.  You know, you can afford to buy lunch now.”

“Force of habit.  Besides, I like PBBs.”  Peanut butter andbanana sandwiches were Matthew’s go-to lunch.

“Did you watch Brea’s match yesterday?”

“Of course.  She looks good.  She says she likes her nextopponent.”

“Do you think she’ll make it to the finals?”

“She thinks so, and more important, so does Cara.”

“That’s great.  Hey, did you see the story in the paper aboutthe new drug supply on the West Coast?”

“I didn’t read it.  Something about how they’re seeing newpharmaceuticals being distributed, wasn’t it?”

“Yes.  They say someone is distributing opioids.  They can’tfigure out where they’re coming from.”

“They’ll figure it out.”

“But why don’t we figure it out?”

“Why?”

“We could wrap it together with Mr. Ward’s paper and write anarticle about it for the school paper.”

“Why should we care, it’s a victimless crime?”

“Hey, it’s a story.  Think like a reporter.”

◆ ◆ ◆

The next day Matthew and Emily met for