Legalized Pickpocketing

In article , Tim Bruening wrote:
> How in the world were the nations of Earth persauded to repeal the laws
> against pickpocketing?
>
Are there specific laws against pickpocketing? IANAL, but I don't
think I've heard of any in my jurisdiction. The standard laws against
theft (viz: depriving someone of the use of their property without lawful
excuse, so stealing someone's car keys but not taking the car could
result in a charge of theft of a motor vehicle.) continue to apply, of
course, so stealing something by pickpocketing is pretty much
indistinguishable to smash'n'grab.

--
Aidan Karley,
Written at Fri, 04 Jan 2008 22:24 GMT, but posted later.
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 >> Stay informed about: Legalized Pickpocketing 

ilya2.TakeThisOut@rcn.com wrote:

> > Yes, the overarching implication is not just that the practice has been
> > decriminalized in the sense of it's no longer enforced, but rather that
> > it has been fully legalized and it is no longer in violation of any law
> > whatsoever. In other words, it's not that the police won't help you;
> > it's that the pickpockets _aren't doing anything wrong_.
> >
> > > I have just figured out why pickpocketing might have been legalized
> > > after it became impossible to stop: so that the pickpocketers would be
> > > more likely to return the wallets after removing the money!
> >
> > You've absolutely no incentive to return the wallet if you can't be
> > caught, and especially if _there is no law against what you're doing_.
> > The premise here is that it was legalized because it was impossible to
> > enforce. If so, even before it was legalized, there is zero incentive
> > to return the wallet, because you cannot possibly be identified. After
> > it's legalized, you're not even committing a crime anymore, so you're
> > free and clear to do whatever you like.
> >
> > This is why the notion is so fundamentally goofy.
>
> Not *entirely* goofy -- Niven explains that in Beowulf Schaeffer's
> time pickpocketing is essentially a game of skill. If you notice the
> pickpocket and catch his hand, you win. If you don't, he wins.
> Returning your wallet afterwards is "common courtesy" -- failing to do
> so is legal, but unsportsmanlike.

Any ideas on how pickpocketing changed from being a crime to being a national
sport?
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James Kuyper wrote:

> Tim Bruening wrote:
> > "John Spain" wrote on Mon, 31 Dec 2001
> > 19:41:49 +0100:
> >
> >> "James Kuyper Jr." wrote on Mon, 31 Dec 2001 10:25:01 -0500:
> >
> >>> The difference between sodomy and, for instance, embezellment, is not
> >>> enforceability. It is that one of them involves the fully informed
> >>> consent of all affected people, and the other does not. I'd find his
> >>> concept that picking pockets might become legal more plausible, if I
> >>> could see any reason why people would cease to object to having their
> >>> pockets picked.
> >> Well, anything that isn't illegal is legal, by default.
> >>
> >> Consider the psychology of that period's flatlanders: Extremely gregarious,
> >> racially, economically and culturally equal to a great degree, totally
> >> sexually uninhibited and mentally and physically nonagressive.
> >>
> >> Nobody feels threatened by physical contact, and everyone is aware of the
> >> possibility of losing your wallet. In a mostly cashless society with palm
> >> print locks instead of keys, it's no great loss. Presumably unspoken social
> >> rules and nonverbal signals arise that regulate this to a degree. i.e. a
> >> nudist isn't going to get his pockets picked.
> >>
> >> The way it's presented, it's looks to me like a mating game. Remember
> >> Sharrol steals Bey's wallet, what happens afterwards? They get hitched.
> >> Think of picking a someone's wallet as a way of getting their phone number
> >> (The fact they meet through a coincidence later is, I feel, somewhat
> >> improbable unfortunately. But it doesn't change the essence of my argument)
> >
> > How in the world were the nations of Earth persauded to repeal the laws
> > against pickpocketing???? I would expect that any politician proposing
> > the legalization of pickpocketing would have been voted out of office
> > for being "soft on crime"!
>
> Personally, I find it implausible, as indicated in the ancient message
> you resurrected above. However, if I had to take it as given, and come
> up with a plausible mechanism, I'd use the repeal of Prohibition as a
> model. This requires that pick-pocketing become not merely a commonplace
> activity, but also a popular one. That is, there was not only a large
> fraction of the populace that were victims, but also a large fraction of
> the populace who were perpetrators, say at least 25%.
>
> I consider it extremely unlikely that this would ever be the case, but
> if it were, then decriminalization becomes a natural consequence. That
> would be because a solid electoral majority of people would either be
> pick-pockets, or have friends or relatives that they sympathized with
> who were pickpockets.

In the Niven-verse, pick pocketing is a game of skill. Is there a
website for pick pocketers (www.pickpocket.com)?
 >> Stay informed about: Legalized Pickpocketing 

Tim Bruening wrote:
> In the Niven-verse, pick pocketing is a game of skill. Is there a
> website for pick pocketers (www.pickpocket.com)?

Another year, another attempt to revive this eight-year-old thread, I
guess. (Your last revival was December 26, 2007, so I'm detecting a
pattern here.)

Seriously: Why the hell you do this?

--
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San Jose, CA, USA && 37 18 N 121 57 W && AIM, Y!M erikmaxfrancis
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alone would fail. -- John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963
 >> Stay informed about: Legalized Pickpocketing 

Erik Max Francis wrote:
> Tim Bruening wrote:
>> In the Niven-verse, pick pocketing is a game of skill. Is there a
>> website for pick pocketers (www.pickpocket.com)?
>
> Another year, another attempt to revive this eight-year-old thread, I
> guess. (Your last revival was December 26, 2007, so I'm detecting a
> pattern here.)
>
> Seriously: Why the hell you do this?
>
I think it is known only to himself.
 >> Stay informed about: Legalized Pickpocketing 

Naked Gonad wrote:
>Erik Max Francis wrote:
>> Tim Bruening wrote:
>>> In the Niven-verse, pick pocketing is a game of skill. Is there a
>>> website for pick pocketers (www.pickpocket.com)?
>>
>> Another year, another attempt to revive this eight-year-old thread, I
>> guess. (Your last revival was December 26, 2007, so I'm detecting a
>> pattern here.)
>>
>> Seriously: Why the hell you do this?
>>
>I think it is known only to himself.

As near as I can tell, he doesn't realize yet that other people have different
interests than he does. So when it occurs to him again that there's something
else he wants to say on the subject, and he seems to have a cycle of about
six different settings he goes through, which take about a year or so each
time, he goes and digs up the old thread again, totally ignoring everything
else that's been going on...

Dave
--
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It's not the clock that slows the hour The definition's plain for anyone to see
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On Thu, 01 Jan 2009 01:33:05 -0800, Erik Max Francis
wrote:

>Tim Bruening wrote:
>> In the Niven-verse, pick pocketing is a game of skill. Is there a
>> website for pick pocketers (www.pickpocket.com)?
>
>Another year, another attempt to revive this eight-year-old thread, I
>guess. (Your last revival was December 26, 2007, so I'm detecting a
>pattern here.)
>
>Seriously: Why the hell you do this?

Sorry, the voices in his head have promised not to tell you.

--
Bill Snyder [This space unintentionally left blank]
 >> Stay informed about: Legalized Pickpocketing