NovaCop10 wrote:
Talked myself into a corner? Ever hear of attempted robbery or conspiracy? Or Attempted larceny? Attempted is the same punishment as if it were committed. Conspiracy carries great penalties as well. You are right, there are times when people are caught doing things or stopped by LEO's before they commit a crime. Maybe they are documented and let go (since the P.C. wasn't reached) but it still deterred the crime from occurring and now they are documented. Obviously I am pro LEO, although I don't always support everything that is LEO related.
You missed my point completely. I don't intend to sound condescending, but maybe you should read my post again. My point is that before a person commits a crime, they are not a criminal. You can no more defend the public against that person than you can arrest someone for open carry (in Virginia) because they
might shoot someone.
I did address planning to commit a crime in my post (emphasis added in the quote, not the original):
I realize that in some cases, planning to commit a crime may be a crime itself, but there you go, that means you have committed a crime before you go to prison.
In fact, I would submit that if the presence of a LEO does actually prevent someone from committing a crime, by definition, nobody other than that thwarted criminal and their co-conspirators would ever know it. (If I must spell it out, in the case that the LEO does find out about a plan, then there is conspiracy, etc, and thus, that crime was not prevented, but rather discovered, and brought to justice.)
Once the LEO finds out about it, a crime has already been committed (that's where the conspiracy comes in). That process may stop
some associated planned crimes (the fruition of the conspiracy), but until we start reading minds a la
Minority Report, individual self-defense will always be the first line.
TFred