This is a semantic question, but I want to get a feel for what you guys think.

  • Death_Equity@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    You haven’t broken the law unless you are formally charged, cited, warned, etc.

    An unenforced law is a suggestion.

    • Bizarroland@kbin.social
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      9 months ago

      This is completely and totally factually incorrect.

      People break laws all of the time and get away with it. Driving one mile an hour over the speed limit is breaking the law.

      Just because no pencil dick officer would write you a ticket for one mile an hour over the speed limit doesn’t mean that you were not in fact breaking the law, just that you are not going to get punished for the law that you broke.

      • meyotch@slrpnk.net
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        9 months ago

        I don’t think thats a logically defensible position. That would make me guilty of speeding (and technically every other crime on the books) even if I never get in a car.

        Without a finding of fact by a court, I have the presumption of innocence. Without that finding, I am NOT in fact breaking any laws. The alternative is a presumption of guilt which is the opposite of our entire legal system.