Slashdot Mirror
Lawyers Using Databases To Grab Clients
bc90021 writes "It seems that lawyers are using jail-house email lists to send potential clients letters offering their services. One couple, on finding their son who'd been missing for two days, '...was astonished that deputies failed to call them when their son was arrested -- though contact and medical information was in the young man's wallet -- yet managed to inform people who wanted his business.'"
Capitalism at it's best.
"Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue." - David Brent, Wernham Hogg
Particularly nauseating fact from this case was the company who proudly boasted "we are experts in drug cases" on the envelope.
Still, you shouldn't expect any more from these pond life.
Jolyon
Please read my Canon EOS tech blog at http://www.everyothershot.com
Hmm. I would have liked to have known what the outcome of that was. I have a friend who is in a similar situation and he gets questioned all the time by people concerned for his well-being. But arrested on suspicion of using drugs? Just because he was acting erratic? Does that strike anyone else as strange?
I'd sue the pants off the casino and the arresting agency over that if I was him or his guardian. WTF is this? Arrest first and ask questions later? What have we come to?
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
Not only does money talk, it also listens.
Seeing bad movies only encourages them. Watch responsibly
Those who are innocent will want lawyers who relentlessly pursue the truth. The rest need lawyers who know what people can get away with. In our oppositional based legal system, the demand for scummy lawyers will be equal or greater than honest lawyers.
I just think it's interesting that every single form of excess in the US is frowned upon, except making obscene amounts of money. If you like sex too much, you're a sexaholic; if you take too many recreational substances, you're a drug abuser; if you eat too much you're a glutton; if you're very vocal about your beliefs or religion, you're a fanatic. However, if you make more money than any 1,000 people could spend in 10 lifetimes, you're an entrepreneur (sp?). Now, before I get flamed, I'm not saying that capitalism is bad, but when you take ANYTHING to an extreme, it's usually not a good thing. The main reason that Communism failed is that they took Marx's ideas to their logical extreme without any thought of human nature or simple compassion. Anyone remember "Lost Horizon"? When the head monk is telling Ronald Coleman's character that they do everything in moderation and therefore are more than moderately happy? Just something to think about...
No.
Er, rather, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
While I don't think authorities should be using that information for commercial purposes, arrests records should absolutely be 100% public.
With private records, you run the risk of embarrassment when the neighbors read your name in the local police blotter.
Without private records, you end up...Well, we don't know where you end up. You're gone. And while we suspect the police had some involvement, nobody can find you to waive your right to keep your arrest secret.
Nice to known members of the Bush administration are reading /. to mod such posts up. Send me a postcard from Guantanamo.
Using spam to punish criminals. Priceless!
I don't know about other countries but here in the USA getting arrested doesn't make you a criminal. Being convicted of a crime, however, does. Priceless? Indeed. You can't buy that kind of freedom. You have to fight for it.
Speak truth to power.
Would it matter? You should do some ride alongs with local police for a few nights.
Not to mention- this guy is supposed to be on medication daily- and was off it. I am glad they picked him up for his own safety and that of others. This way he doesn't have to use the temp insanity defense if he 'accidentaly' kills somebody while he's off his meds. You see, in that state, he is not responsible for his own actions. So who is? When the folks were called he was in a mental care place- not jail. Sounds like he was treated well.
Beat cops don't have the time or training to do a lot more than look at the current situation and quickly decide if they are going to remove someone. In a casino I bet it is an easy/quick decision. Then when he is no longer a threat to himself or anyone else, you have time to decide what to do. I didn't see anything in the article about him being charged.
But as I said, there just isn't enough information here to make any kind of decision on the rightness/wrongness of what was done. Me- I'm sympathetic to cops and so I tend to assume they did o.k. unless something shows otherwise. It seems (maybe not- I'm just saying) that you are otherwise inclined.
It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
I don't know about other countries but here in the USA getting arrested doesn't make you a criminal.
In principle, sure. In practice, recent events have demonstrated that, even in the USA, people can be arrested and held without charge or trial -- even if they are citizens. Until the freedoms enshrined in the Bill of Rights are consistently respected, without being transgressed under the guise of 'security', then I don't think its fair to say that the US is more 'free' than, say, your average European country.
Tubal-Cain smokes the white owl.
In principle, sure. In practice, recent events have demonstrated that, even in the USA, people can be arrested and held without charge or trial
Except that none of the people in Guantanamo were captured in the US. They were arrested because they were part of organizations that perpetrate killing and destruction, yet have no governmental umbrella that can be negotiated/reasoned with and therefore Geneva POW status does not apply to them. They are slowly being sorted and distributed either back to their country or origin/capture after no longer being deemed a direct threat, or charged with crimes in their home country. The fact is though, they are being treated quite well.
-- even if they are citizens.
Not true either. John Walker Lindh never went to Guantanamo.
Until the freedoms enshrined in the Bill of Rights are consistently respected, without being transgressed under the guise of 'security',
People continually talk of rights being "transgressed under the guise of 'security'", but I actually see very few examples ever of what they mean. Otherwise, it just sounds like rhetoric. I know you believe the issues we are talking about are an example, but what are some others?
then I don't think its fair to say that the US is more 'free' than, say, your average European country
I would tend to agree that most western European countries are very 'free' except the previous poster did not specify Europe. I would not say that all of Europe is free (largely Eastern Europe is not in many ways) however, and that leaves a large portion of the globe with few of the same rights as Americans and Western Europeans.
I don't want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything. I don't want to sell anything bought or processed...