Another episode of Law & Order

One college student A goes into a library stairwell and sees his good
buddy B strangling the girl he got pregnant. Claims later he thought
they were having sex. 2nd guy B, in anger, insists 1st guy A knew
what he was doing.

A turns around and leaves. Finally forced to say what he saw.

Prosecutor 1 says there will be an outcry fro a good samaritan law
(meaning not the medical version where they are relieved of liability
but that they will be forced to do something when they see certain
crimes in progaess)

Prosecutor 2 says there is no way to make it constitutional.


Is that true? We can make a law that people have to pick up their
dog poop but we can't make a law that people call the police when
they see someone being murdered? Or that they come forward afterwards? Why?


"You shall not stand idly by the blood of your neighbor. I am the
Lord". Vayikra/Leviticus 19:16. I don't expect US law to echo
Biblical law, but this seems like one example where it should.




I don't doubt there are many legal mistakes in the show. That's why
I'm asking.

But I still love the sets, think the actors are chosen well**, the
plots are complicated to keep me thinking but not so complicated I
can't follow them (like Mission Impossible movies).

**For example, when they have a cab driver, he's either Caribbean or
African, with the proper accent , and that's accurate. For the most
part, that's who drives cabs in NYC.

The locks on the door are typically NYC, and you won't see that style
anywhere else afaik. There are hundreds of details of the sets that
are accurate and noteworthy and that's because, other than the
lawyer's offices, they don't use sets. They use real locations,
which has always even before this show seemed easier and cheaper to
me, in addition to being far more accurate.

And the dialog, body language, and "business", when it doesn't
involve legal stuff seems very believable to me.

It is unnerving to watch 5 or more serious crimes a week on
TV. (They show 11 or 12 episodes a week.) I wish it was once a week.

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On 3/31/2021 6:21 AM, meirman@fastmail.com wrote:

Another episode of Law & Order

One college student A goes into a library stairwell and sees his good
buddy B strangling the girl he got pregnant.  Claims later he thought
they were having sex.  2nd guy B, in anger, insists 1st guy A knew what
he was doing.

A turns around and leaves.  Finally forced to say what he saw.

Prosecutor 1 says there will be an outcry fro a good samaritan law
(meaning not the medical version where they are relieved of liability
but that they will be forced to do something when they see certain
crimes in progaess)

Prosecutor 2 says there is no way to make it constitutional.

Is that true?   We can make a law that people have to pick up their dog poop but we can't make a law that people call the police when they see someone being murdered?   Or that they come forward afterwards?  Why?

"You shall not stand idly by the blood of your neighbor. I am the
Lord".   Vayikra/Leviticus 19:16.   I don't expect US law to echo Biblical law, but this seems like one example where it should.

...

There might be some problems with such a law.

The problem comes about when you have a possible witness who didn't
report the crime. The witness then pleads the Fifth Amendment and
refuses to testify because he would then be confessing to a crime of of
not reporting.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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