Just curious, where would you say the line is between “police state” and “a state with police”

mingus88 10 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Are you serious with this question?

	▲	jazzyjackson 9 hours ago \| parent [-]
		No I just thought the parent poster was also unserious

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AnimalMuppet 11 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Wikipedia says that in a police state, the government exerts an extreme amount of control over society and individuals. That leaves "extreme" undefined, though, so it's subjective. (Also, you know, Wikipedia.)

I'm not the one you asked, but: Me, personally, I'd draw the line at the independence of the courts. If the courts are independent, if they can rule against the police for failure to prove their case or for procedural violations or whatever, then it's not a police state. If the police win the borderline cases (or worse, the clearly bogus cases) just because they're the police, then it's a police state.

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chaps 10 hours ago | parent [-]

Do you think the courts are independent?

Followup question:

Do you think public defenders are given adequate funding to ensure they can give proper defense to their clients?

	▲	AnimalMuppet 8 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Yes, I think courts are independent. No, I do not think that public defenders are adequate.