FBI to Put Criminals Up in Lights

coondoggie writes "The FBI today said it wants to install 150 digital billboards in 20 major U.S. cities in the next few weeks to show fugitive mug shots, missing people and high-priority security messages from the big bureau. The billboards will let the FBI highlight those people it is looking for the most: violent criminals, kidnap victims, missing kids, bank robbers, even terrorists, the FBI said in a release. And the billboards will be able to be updated largely in real-time — right after a crime is committed, a child is taken, or an attack is launched. Chicago, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Miami will be among those cities provided with the new billboards."

Comments

Re:Slander

[alen]

no, these are people who are wanted for a crime so they can face trial who refuse to turn themselves in and be tried in front of a jury. same thing as the wanted posters in the post office

Re:Slander

[swillden]

If someone comes into my home, yanks open the door of my car, or lays a hand on me in the street, I will cheerfully use whatever means are immediately available to do the absolute most damage possible in the absolute shortest amount of time.

Your choice, but it's a good way to land yourself in jail. If you live in a "Castle Doctrine" state, and the guy is in your home, you'll probably be okay, legally. Some states consider your car to be an extension of your home, some don't. You'd better know the local laws. Even with "Castle Doctrine" law, you had better be careful with how much you do after the threat is ended.

On the street, however, the rules are very different. I'm pretty sure that in every state in the US, if you're not in your home, you have a duty to retreat if the harm you think the bad guy is going to do can be avoided that way. If it can't, then you're free to respond with violence. How much violence depends on the threat. If he's unarmed and doesn't have a large physical advantage over you, and you shoot him, then you're going to jail.

I firmly believe that shooting someone who has a (knife|gun|bat|pipe|etc) is a just and fair response to them threatening me or mine.

I agree, and so does the law pretty much everywhere. The law in my state (which is what I'm most familiar with, obviously) says that if I have a reasonable belief that someone is about to inflict serious bodily injury or death upon me or anyone else I am fully within my rights to use deadly force to stop it.

However, once the threat is neutralized, I cannot continue beating, shooting, whatever. Self defense is about stopping the threat, not exacting retribution. If you cross that line, you're going to be in trouble, and rightly so.