Saturday, September 17: Purge Law Fact vs. Fiction
Never underestimate how much this country loves imprisoning people
Remember the Purge movies? They were popular for a minute there, and conceptually they were definitely a new idea. In the movies, citizens of this dystopian nation were given one day every year to commit all the crimes they wanted. For some reason this was the best form of criminal justice reform available, as people got all the toxic energy out of their system in one day. Initially the movie didn’t require much thought, just a bunch of rich whites defending their mansions from the hordes of poors lawlessly overrunning the streets.
Recently, posts on social media have begun referring to a “Purge Law” taking effect in Illinois that would mimic the circumstances in the film. At first I was excited; finally an opportunity to commit all those crimes I’ve been pondering! But after exactly one (1) google search and spending approximately three (3) minutes reading about the law, it has literally nothing in common with The Purge.
The SAFE-T Act (‘Safety, Accountability, Fairness, and Equity-Today’) is the Illinois government’s attempt to eliminate cash bail for a number of crimes. Cash bail is the controversial method of requiring people accused of crimes to cough up exorbitant amounts of money or risk remaining incarcerated. Many of the viral posts and videos criticizing the law make mention of “non-detainable offenses” under the SAFE-T Act, claiming that judges won’t be able to detain those suspected of murder or violent offenders, thus feeding into the “Purge” comparisons.
However, it’s important to recognize that in this country there’s literally no such thing as a “non-detainable offense”. Every day cops find and make up reasons to detain people. Full disclosure, I was detained last year for demonstrating on a public sidewalk. The SAFE-T Act is a tiny (and I mean tiny) step in the right direction in terms of criminal justice reform.
Friendly reminder: The US imprisons a larger percentage of its population than any other country in the world.
Side Items
Tricky Predicament: A Palestinian farmer planting an olive tree stumbled upon an ancient mosaic buried underground. After three months of careful excavation with his son, the farmers uncovered an ornate Byzantine-era mosaic that experts say is one of the greatest archaeological treasures ever found in Gaza. Now to figure out how to keep it from getting destroyed in Israel’s next bombing run
Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver was recently fined $10 million and given a one-year suspension by the NBA for his long history of racist and misogynist comments. For many in the NBA, including your favorite players, the punishment wasn’t harsh enough, as they call for a lifetime ban for the bigoted doofus. Now that Lebron has tweeted his disapproval, I give Sarver another week before he finds himself given the boot for good