From cracked.com, the five most popular public safety laws that don't work: speed limits, three strikes, amber alerts, zero tolerance at schools, and sex-offender registries:
Really, is it ever possible to be too safe? Especially when it's our children at stake?
Actually, yes. Especially when the rule or law intended to make us safe is so poorly thought-out that it either does nothing but suck up public money, or creates a ripple effect of unintended side effects.
The reasoning is sometimes common-sensical (speed laws don't work because "people aren't completely retarded" and "tend to drive at speeds they feel comfortable driving") and sometimes provocative (amber alerts are a bad idea because "few things are more dangerously retarded than people in large groups"), and they do seem to like the word "retarded" a lot. Very interesting read.
