posted by [identity profile] mandysbitch.livejournal.com at 10:26pm on 18/03/2009
I think an arrest warrant based on that idea might be understandable (the standard or proof is balance of probabilitie) but concluding a case on that kind of evidence would be ridiculous given the beyond reasonable doubt standard of proof required and there's no way that evidence would survive (I don't think you'd even have to lead any evidence - just raise the seed of doubt. It wouldn't be hard).

So I suppose in terms of an investigation it would be helpful - but it would be pretty flimsly evidence in court.

SVU used to be pretty good on their evidence law - I still say my awesome mark for evidence was because I watched so much L & O. :)
 
posted by [identity profile] fallon-ash.livejournal.com at 11:30pm on 18/03/2009
I think even an arrest warrant is strong. Wearing a watch on the right hand sounds like grounds for bringing them in for questioning to determine first if they are left-handed, but not arrest them for murder.

I think what really bothers me is that they never say 'possibly'. They always state with utter certainty that 'IT IS LIKE THIS'. I think the quote went "Who wears their watch on the right wrist? Left-handed people do." I would have been so much more ok with it if they said 'left-handed people might', or something like that. It's all well and good to use any evidence you have, but to treat them like facts when they're merely possibilities annoys the hell out of me. It feels like just another 'look at us how clever we are, we know everything'.

('Alleged/potential/possible' are som of my favourite words. My favourite high school English teacher would instantly fail essays if they claimed facts without proper grounds to do so. I grew up wanting to be like her. :P )
 
posted by [identity profile] mandysbitch.livejournal.com at 03:45am on 21/03/2009
OMG! Fury Leika icon! Man, it was bizarre seeing Liz Vassey in Dr Horrible. I was all, what? What? heh heh heh.

Wearing a watch on the right hand sounds like grounds for bringing them in for questioning to determine first if they are left-handed, but not arrest them for murder.

Ha ha! You can get an arrest warrant for looking at someone funny over here! Seriously!

Okay, that's harsh. But JPs (justices of the peace - non-legally qualified mostly) can give out search warrants in the state of western australia (can't speak for the other states) so the ol' watch on the left arm things isn't a stretch at all.

The state of New York might be different. Crazy as it sounds, police powers in New York probably aren't as exstensive as they are over here. That pesky bill of rights just gets in the way... But it can be quite a personal thing from judge to judge and can depend a lot on how the cops present the evidence (i do recommendations for environmental notices that are based on similar standards of proof and it's quite interesting how different investigators - who are mostly ex-cops - will present different arguments).

Still, I'm with you. If it had been me issuing a warrant, I would have been highly skeptical and would have said, "so what else have you got?"


 
posted by [identity profile] fallon-ash.livejournal.com at 10:21am on 21/03/2009
I wanted to use that icon and reply to your Dr Horrible fic with "Fury Leka!!", but then I saw the other comments and I thought that would be insensitive of me, because I didn't read it, and they were talking about how amazing it was. I couldn't read it. Whedon is just not for me. I have not forgiven him for how that ended, and I'm extremely upset with him. He's a sneaky bastard and I don't trust him, and I should have known better after what happened in Serenity, but I still watched DrH (and *squeed* at Liz Vassey as well! She's so pretty!), and now I'm upset with him. Never again will I watch anything he's behind until a trustworthy source has watched and recapped for me.

Anyway, dude, so interesting to hear about how it actually works somewhere. I'll admit that I really shouldn't be going on about how they get warrants because I know nothing about it. I've learned it all from crime shows where the lawyers keep going 'no, you need more, you'll never get a judge to sign a warrant based on that flimsy piece of evidence'. I should learn not to do that, but regardless of how much I complain about inaccuracies, there's still a part of me that watches the procedurals and assumes that reality works something like that.

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