Friday, June 27, 2003

Bad Laws Make Bad Cases Too



Geoff Honnor at Troppo Armadillo approves of the US Supreme Court's decision to strike down Texas' anti-sodomy laws. So do I, especially after hearing this little tidbit of information on AM this morning:

The case was triggered five years ago when a neighbour with a grudge faked a distress call to police, telling them that a man was "going crazy" with a gun in an apartment next door. Police went to the apartment, and instead found the two men having sex.

Of course it's inconceivable that here in Australia a malicious neighbour might contact the authorities with a false report which results in police laying charges totally unrelated to the original report and, eventually, a High Court case. We don't have any laws that would allow that sort of situation to occur and, even if we do, there are plenty of safeguards and protections built in to prevent that sort of thing. I know because Dazza told us so.

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