“Dead kids make bad laws”

“Kyleigh’s Law,” which imposed an 11 p.m. curfew on younger drivers and required them to affix red reflective decals on their vehicles, was really not a very good idea, but New Jersey lawmakers figured that not voting for it might seem to insult Kyleigh’s memory. Much could be said as well against Megan’s Law, Hannah’s Law, Jessica’s Law, Chelsea’s Law … might one discern a pattern here? [Michael Tracey, Reason]

4 Comments

  • In the past you had to have first committed a transgression against society before they made you wear a
    red decal.

  • I have an idea! “Reuven’s Law”.

    This law would make it

    1) illegal to name laws against laws after dead little girls.
    2)illegal to name a law after any dead or injured person (other than those covered in provision #1) if said law wouldn’t have absolutely prevented the death or injury of said person.

    Don’t forget, the pool drain cover law that you talked about recently is another piece of foolish legislation named after a dead little girl: Virginia Graeme Baker (Who didn’t die in a pool, she died in a hot tub, and her parents never faced criminal charges for leaving a 7 year old alone in a hot-tub.)

  • One more point:
    TFA says

    Then something unusual happened: New Jersey residents began fighting back against the underage driving sticker. Kyleigh’s Law has proven unpopular not just with young drivers but with many of their parents. But the adults’ opposition does not stem from an objection to intrusive for-the-children legislative hysteria. It reflects a semi-hysterical for-the-children fear of their own: that teen drivers, once identified as such, would become targets of predators.

    There was parallel case when two “what about the children”-type factions were at opposing sides. In California, about 25-years ago, they were having hearings about “Caller ID” and whether to allow phone companies to have that feature. There were emotional arguments from two groups.

    1. Women who claimed they were harassed over the phone, and that Caller ID would help them identify their alleged-harasser

    2. “Battered Woman” organizations who claimed that Caller ID would hurt the ability of women who are in battered woman’s shelters to call and get help without revealing who they are

    (Google “Domestic Violence Agencies Lose Suit to Remove FCC Caller ID Protection in California” to see some of this. It was insane.)