Friday, October 1, 2010

Explain your actions!

Today I am taking a look at Illinois law "Temporary questioning without arrest" and what's wrong with it.   First we will look at the law itself:

(725 ILCS 5/107‑14)(from Ch. 38, par. 107‑14)
Sec. 107‑14. Temporary questioning without arrest. 
A peace officer, after having identified himself as a peace officer, may stop any person in a public place for a reasonable period of time when the officer reasonably infers from the circumstances that the person is committing, is about to commit or has committed an offense as defined in Section 102‑‑15 of this Code, and may demand the name and address of the person and an explanation of his actions. Such detention and temporary questioning will be conducted in the vicinity of where the person was stopped.
(Source: Laws 1968, p. 218.)

The first major problem I have with this is the lack of any definition to the word "reasonable".  What exactly is a "reasonable period of time"?  The second time "reasonable" shows it's unreasonable head is when an officer "reasonably infers" that someone is about to commit an offense.   This law assumes clairvoyant abilities on normal law enforcement officials.  

My BIG complaint with this law is a requirement to identify yourself, and EXPLAIN YOUR ACTIONS.   If you took this law literally it only reads that men have to explain their actions, as women could be interpreted as exempt from a law that requires an "explanation of his actions".  Isn't it unconstitutional to be put into a position of potential self-incrimination?  

How come no one's fixed this law?  It's obviously a problem, but why has it been around for more than 35 years without contest?  The sheer amount of time this has been on the books shows that Illinois lacks a system of checks and balances, that our cops, lawmakers, judges, and LAWYERS have all betrayed the people of Illinois which makes 3 out of 4 of those groups guilty of perjury, and they should be sentenced accordingly

No comments:

Post a Comment