What do y'all think about the curfew (marshal law) that has been imposed in Helena Arkansas?

Question

A ten block area in one neighborhood has been put under marshal law by the city's mayor because of gang violence. Everyone that is not in there home anytime of the day or night has to give a good reason for being on the street and anyone that gives a "smart answer" or has no excuse will be arrested. What do you think about that? Sound like the next step in total government control over our daily lives. The good are paying right along with the bad on this one. The ACLU is of course all over this one.

Answer 1

I think the curfew (read curfew, not martial law) isn't a bad idea. I'm a law abiding citizen and I wouldn't mind living like that for a few weeks if it meant that drug and gun violence would be dealt with. I would be much more upset if the police and town didn't do anything at all the fix the situation. I applaud that town for taking control of the situation and going on offense instead of playing defense. If people are going to act like animals then hey you get treated like one. Sometimes a few bad apples do spoil it for the rest of us, its nothing new.

btw, I highly doubt people were just lazily hanging out under shade trees sipping lemonade when bullets were whizzing by and some drug dealer was trying to sell crack to their kids.

Answer 2

Seems desperate times call for desperate measures. I'd ask the ACLU to move their state office into the neighborhood; that should fix everything

Answer 3

get rid of the illegals problem solved

Answer 4

Point one is that a curfew is not martial law, a city mayor cannot declare martial law as he has no military to do it with.  A state governor could using National Guard troops under state control and the federal government can using active or reserve military units or by placing the National Guard under federal control and using them.  A mayor using the police to enforce a curfew is not martial law and is nothing more then a police action.  Many cities have curfews based on age and many also have curfews in limited areas based on crime rate (usually drug or gang related) and nothing is illegal about it.  Whether it is a black community, hispanic, white or mixed is not a reason to not to it because the area is under the curfew and all people in the area so while it might be mostly a certain race or ethnic group living their it applies to any and every one in the area.  I would guess the law they are actually being arrested under is most likely loitering and almost every city has an anti-loitering ordnance and most enforce it as needed meaning not every time and usually, here anyway, tell the people to move on and if they don't then arrest them.  Your last responsse is actually contradictory-yes that area under curfew means that innocent granny and the thug are both asked why they are their and told to move n if they had no eason to be in the area, if the police just asked blacks, old women, hispanics, arabs and so on it would be profiling and that would make it discrinatory and illegal.  The anti-profiling rules are what is causing the general curfew.  The ACLU might be all over it ut I don;t think they have much of a leg to stand on since it is in many ways directly related to the anti-profiling rules they pushed so hard for and got; called the rule of unforseen consequences.

Answer 5

By definition, this is not marshal law so please do not try to use inaccurate inflammatory language.  Habeas corpus has not been suspended.  Anyone arrested goes through the normal civilian courts.  I do not live in the neighborhood so I do not know how bad the violence is.  But if it is that bad, then maybe I would support it.  It has probably been done this way because they are not allowed to pick on one group, such as youths, without running into profiling issues.  The important question is whether the residents support it or not.  If the crime is that bad, many people probably feel scared to go out late anyway.

Answer 6

I think its a great idea, i wish they would do that in England. It will prevent all sorts of gang problems. Why do groups of kids want to hang around on the streets late at night anyway? Cant they think of something better to do.. Yea i think its a good idea,  

Answer 7

I think that it is appalling! If there really is a bad gang problem then the people living there are already suffering. Why should they be treated like criminals when they are the true victims in this.

How are they supposed to get to night jobs? How are they supposed to have friends visit. What if a resident becomes ill during the night and needs to seek medical help? Can they leave then?

My State governemt did this in my niece's street in Sydney. They also cut power to the street because there had been some small scale (2 dozen or so participants) street "riots" after the death of a young car thief during a police pursuit.

My niece's father and his new wife have three small children. At the time they were 8 months, three and four and a half. That family lived in the centre of one of the richest cities on earth for over a week with no electricity, with police cars barricading their roads and with armed riot squad officers patrolling their streets.

What precisely was THEIR crime? The kids rioting for the most part did not even live in the suburb but had come to support a few friends who did.

Its ludicrous, but far from isolated is my response to your question.

Answer 8

It doesn't matter what this mayor says or what few people in yahoo answer might think. They simply cannot do it. It is in direct violation of the Constitution.

"Even though these contracts, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, even though they're just pieces of paper with signatures on them. There the only contracts we have that are definitely not subject to renegotiation. ... Not by anyone ever. ... To many people have paid for this contract in blood."  J Carrey Majestic