Lying is not exactly new to political and ideological movements, but every year seems to bring a bumper crop, and 2015 had more than its share. The Washington Post collects some of the leaders. Among this year's winners were Donald Trump (thrice), Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, and, of course, Barack Obama.
As respects criminal law, the Post's biggest winner was -- drum roll -- the anthem of the Black Lives Matter movement, "Hands up, don't shoot!"
This phrase became a rallying cry for protests after the fatal shooting of a black 18-year-old by a white police officer, Darren Wilson. Witness accounts spread after the shooting that Michael Brown had his hands raised in surrender, mouthing the words "Don't shoot" as his last words before being shot execution-style. Democratic lawmakers raised their hands in solidarity on the House floor. But various investigations concluded this did not happen -- and that Wilson acted out of self-defense and was justified in killing Brown.
The odd and discomfiting thing is that, even knowing that its rallying cry is a fabrication, the BLM movement keeps right on using it, and using it belligerently.
Sen. Rand Paul also made the list:
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) loved to tell the story of an elderly man sitting in prison for 10 years after being accused of racketeering and organized crime -- just for putting dirt on his land. But just about every aspect of Paul's recounting was inaccurate and misleading. The man, Robert Lucas, was convicted of mail fraud, conspiracy and environmental violations for his role in developing 67 mobile home lots inside federally protected wetlands, building on wetlands without approval and knowingly selling land with illegal sewage systems that were likely to fail.
Actually, Sen. Paul is correct in thinking that criminal law is used improperly, and dangerously, as the cudgel of the regulatory state, but there are enough true stories to illustrate his point that he had no need to fudge one.
I think the Post missed the biggest criminal law-related lie of 2015, however: "The criminal justice system is broken." What a bunch of malarkey. Measured by the standard most citizens would use -- the crime rate (not the incarceration rate) -- our criminal justice system is perhaps the biggest domestic policy success of the last 40 years.
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