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Culture War Roundup for the week of April 21, 2025

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I can't imagine the DA going after every grandma who conceals her grandson from the cops.

I think it depends on the specifics. But it would seem reasonable under some imaginable set of facts and completely bonkers in another imaginable set of facts. So much is riding on how you actually operationalize it.

If an accused is willing to show up in court when summoned, that is saving the state system the resources they would otherwise have to spend on tracking, arresting and imprisoning that person. If the feds freeload on the state system, in the end it will be state police who will have to spend a lot of resources on tracking illegals wanted for some minor infraction like they are wanted for murder.

On the one hand, yes. On the other hand, it might be more resource efficient to send him to jail longer (because of the failure to appear) in a single go. Moreover, an FTA charge is an extremely easy one to stick because you don't need a ton of facts or motions practice or anything else -- it's extremely well documented whether or not the guy was required to appear and whether he didn't.

In that respect, it's like the felon in possession of a firearm charge: not always the most serious but the easiest one to charge, try and prove.