Bonooru
Joined 11 years ago
Joined 11 years ago
That's a major source of the danger. If they were being consistently and equally enforced, then it would be obvious when there were issues. In the case with selective enforcement, the government can point to the law and say they're in the right, but only apply it when it suits them. This lets the people making the rules and the people who are in their good graces do what they'd like due to selective enforcement and not face the consequences of their actions.
IANAL but, I suspect that since the full length jail sentence is considered neither cruel nor unusual and is an option for the convicted person, that should mean that if they choose a different option, it can't be cruel because they found that option more pleasant than one that is already determined to not be cruel. I guess this assumes that people will tend to choose the less cruel punishment given two options, but that seems like a safe assumption.