What do you think should be a crime?

[MetalMagpie]

What should be a crime is ultra high interest loans.

If you ever suffer the misfortune of having to watch daytime tv in the UK, you'll bear witness to a non-stop barrage of loan and debt ads, always offering the most ridiculous rates imaginable. I saw one that had an APR of 1730%. 1730%!

That should surely come under loan sharking, right? Someone needs to regulate this shit, because the kind of people who end up taking loans tend to be the kind of people too stupid to realise what the percentages mean in the first place. If only to protect these poor, desperate folk from themselves, I think these businesses should be banned outright. Fucking usurers.

Loans with those rates of interest are "pay-day loans", which generally have a maximum duration of 30 days. The APR is the amount you would pay back if you kept the money for an entire year, so it's not quite as scary as it sounds.

But yes, I think pay-day loans are a horrifically bad thing. If you desperately need a short-term loan to tide yourself over until pay-day, there are far better ways of doing it. Many (if not most) banks are happy to extend your overdraft on a temporary basis, often for free (as long as you always pay it back in time). And the Citizens Advice Bureau offers free money advice, including information about local council schemes to offer short-term loans (which usually have extremely low interest, as the council doesn't make money off them).

I wish I could knock on the door of every person in Britain and tell them never to get a pay-day loan or a "debt consolidation" loan (which have low interest but lock you in for decades, with a penalty for paying off early). If you have money problems, talk to the Citizen's Advice Bureau and then talk to your bank.

*gets down off soapbox*

 

[Brad Calkins]

False rape/sexual assault accusations. Yes they are a crime in theory, but no, it's not enforced.

 

[The Rockerfly]

Spam, not electronic but physical. I say this because it is a complete waste of resources on the planet, most are just to scam you out of money and are fucking irritating. Plus if I complain then the company realises I am paying them some form of attention so they send me more.

 

[bliebblob]

Easy choice! Bullying.

Current legal options against bullying are just laughable, even though it's in the same weelhouse as sexual harrasment etc. I'm aware there would be some nasty grey areas to figure out, like when is playful roughhousing no longer playful? But hey, sexual harrasment law has pretty much the exact same issues yet that didn't stop it from becoming officially illegal.

Oh and if anyone wants to bring up how being bullied builds character, let me stop you right there. It. Does. Not. It just turns happy, healthy people into bitter loners. And occasionaly causes serious mental disorders or suicide.

 

[sageoftruth]

I would create a minor police force with clubs, or perhaps just harsh words, to enforce good behavior.

 

[Nannernade]

I'd rework child punishment for starters, this happy go lucky feel good time out crap obviously isn't working as with every new generation kids become 10x more douchier than the last. Now before anyone gets their panties in a knot, I'm not giving a green light to child abuse, if we look to science if you burn your hand you learn maybe I shouldn't do that again. You need a good consequence for the message to sink in. What does a time out or taking something away send as a message? "I'm bored"...

Oh also trolling, there's no room in society for that. >_>

 

[Mikeyfell]

You're going about this backwards.

People are going to do what they want regardless of what the law says.

Just make Murder legal and you'll see a steep and instant drop off in the crime rate.

Because Yeah, you could steel that guy's wallet, but he could kill you. You're not going to steel that guy's wallet are you?

And let's face it 99% of people aren't going to go on wild killing sprees just because it's suddenly legal.

There's no down side.

 

[Ledan]

Having more than 1 kid should be a crime. In fact I'd go a step further than China and make it so after someone has there first kid both the mother and the father have 3 choices either be chemically castrated, commit ritual suicide, or pay a fine of 10 million dollars. (note women impregnated via rape are not exempt if they do not want it to be there 1 kid they should get an abortion. of which all should be free)

Does not compute. The population will exponentially be halved, we would have no people at all in 100 years. Or less. 2 kids per person, that is a stable population and is also the general trend we are heading for anyways.

 

[Easton Dark]

Smoking outside your home or indoor smoking areas. If you do it in public, you're putting your (enjoyment) addiction ahead of other people's health and safety. Stop being dicks.

 

[Aris Khandr]

You're going about this backwards.

People are going to do what they want regardless of what the law says.

Just make Murder legal and you'll see a steep and instant drop off in the crime rate.

Because Yeah, you could steel that guy's wallet, but he could kill you. You're not going to steel that guy's wallet are you?

And let's face it 99% of people aren't going to go on wild killing sprees just because it's suddenly legal.

There's no down side.

The US population in July of last year was 311,591,917. 1% of that is 3,115,919. Three million killing sprees from that 1% of the population. Yeah, that's a pretty big downside.

 

[orangeban]

Hmm, tricky one. I would tighten up laws on taxes, try and stop rich people from dodging taxes, yeah, that's what I'd do.

 

[rob_simple]

I know extortion is a crime but I think it should extend to the gigantic fees companies are able to slap on consumers at will.

I suppose rather than a crime, there should be a law in place that states the maximum amount every thing can cost and, if that already does exist, it should be far more tightly moderated so that companies like the RIAA can't sue normal people for trillions of dollars.

 

[rob_simple]

I'm in favor of implementing a licensing system for people who want to become parents.

LOL, I'd like to think you're joking.

I don't see why this should be a joke. You need a license to drive a car and irresponsibly raising a child can cause far more long-term damage than driving a car without the proper training.

 

[rob_simple]

I'm in favor of implementing a licensing system for people who want to become parents.

LOL, I'd like to think you're joking.

I don't see why this should be a joke. You need a license to drive a car and irresponsibly raising a child can cause far more long-term damage than driving a car without the proper training.

Because having a child is a bodily function, You want the government to regulate your body?

No, having a child is a conscious decision that two people make (in an ideal situation.) If those two people are incapable of properly caring and providing for that child then why should they be allowed to bring it into the world, just because they can?

That's like saying 'oh I can shoot heroin into my arm, it's my body, so why does the government say I'm not allowed to?'

 

[rob_simple]

Easy choice! Bullying.

Current legal options against bullying are just laughable, even though it's in the same weelhouse as sexual harrasment etc. I'm aware there would be some nasty grey areas to figure out, like when is playful roughhousing no longer playful? But hey, sexual harrasment law has pretty much the exact same issues yet that didn't stop it from becoming officially illegal.

Oh and if anyone wants to bring up how being bullied builds character, let me stop you right there. It. Does. Not. It just turns happy, healthy people into bitter loners. And occasionaly causes serious mental disorders or suicide.

I think the thing that would make this impossible is that it's so difficult to define bullying. Especially since you'd be dealing with children, who are notoriously quick to change and twist their story to suit whatever their needs are at the time; all it takes is for two friends to have cross words one day and suddenly one of them is in the teachers office saying that the other has been bullying and threatening him and bam: criminal record.

I was going to say that bullying does build character, having been put through a lot of shit myself in high school, but thinking about it I'm not necessarily happy with the character I've been built into.

 

[MorganL4]

I think this should be a crime:


You have to work with what you have ( in this case a democratic president), as far as I am concerned that is obstruction of justice.

 

[rob_simple]

I'm in favor of implementing a licensing system for people who want to become parents.

LOL, I'd like to think you're joking.

I don't see why this should be a joke. You need a license to drive a car and irresponsibly raising a child can cause far more long-term damage than driving a car without the proper training.

Because having a child is a bodily function, You want the government to regulate your body?

No, having a child is a conscious decision that two people make (in an ideal situation.) If those two people are incapable of properly caring and providing for that child then why should they be allowed to bring it into the world, just because they can?

That's like saying 'oh I can shoot heroin into my arm, it's my body, so why does the government say I'm not allowed to?'

Ok man, don't complain to me when you cannot have a child because you were drunk and got into a bar fight.

Well, I wouldn't do that, but that wouldn't necessarily have a bearing on being able to attain a parenthood license. I just think that there should be checks in place for people wishing to be parents to see that they're financially able to care for that child and that they're mentally sound. Or do you think it makes more sense for crackheads to be able to have babies and continue getting fucked up all their lives and neglecting/abusing their kids, because that's their god-given right?

 

[cerebus23]

professional politician as a career should be criminalized.

trial lawyers, or tort reform in general to make the whole system more fair for companies that get sued by theses ass clowns.

 

[PureChaos]

Walking slowly in front of me in public.
Just move out the way! Don't walk in threes because I cannot slip by!

I'm with you on that...if the law can include me, too. I don't mind people walking slowly but when there's no way round them it is REALLY annoying.

 

[phantasmalWordsmith]

Being rude to the postman. That should be a crime. Never mess with the guy who brings you the post