Advanced Criminal Justice (Class 2), Period 2, 01.12.05

[bugofjustice.livejournal.com]

[OOC: Tuesday was fun. Please, no 300-comments today. Knock about 100 off that total, please? Otherwise, good work. If you have Homework or EC from Tuesday, you can drop it off below. One note about fiction in this class: You can know that when Tick talks about Looney Tunes or Disney, he is talking about a fictional cartoon. Tick's take on it - a take that isn't wrong - is that these cartoons aren't fictional, they're just historical records from another dimension. Question his view to him and he will look at you funny. Class Info Post.]

The Tick stood behind the podium at the front of the class as usual. On the podium was a small plastic figurine of an anthropomorphic, gray rabbit. Lockheed was perched on his regular bookshelf.

"Hello, class! For the next week, we will be focusing on one individual and his relationship with that cute girl next door that we call Justice. This individual's name? Mr. Bugs Bunny." Tick held up the figurine. There may have been a Six Flags logo at the base. "Those of you who had class with me last semester may recognize this rascally little rabbit. He was one of the offenders in the Hunting Season Lecture. He is a busy guy with a lot of enemies, so we have plenty of reasons to talk about him."

"Today we will focus on his relationship with a Mr. Yosemite Sam. While we have previously discussed Mr. Bunny's reckless and devious - if not precisely criminal - behavior, it is, up to a certain point, difficult to blame him for instigating anything with this varmint. Mr. Sam is, quite frankly, a vile human being, obsessed with his own personal gain and is willing to attempt to murder innocents in this pursuit. I haven't seen any accounts of him successfully murdering - or even successfully shooting - anyone, but he always leads with his guns whenever someone poses a threat. Mr. Bunny often poses a threat, usually due to sheer coincidence."

"As we've seen time and again, there are repeated murder attempts that Mr. Bunny refuses to report to the police. Perhaps he likes to get out of trouble on his own. Perhaps he finds being shot at exciting. Perhaps he actually wants to die, but he hasn't found someone capable of actually shooting him. I can't speak for Mr. Bunny. But I can say that Mr. Sam has it in for him, coming back time and again even after falls that should have killed him! All to threaten Mr. Bunny some more."

"My question to you, class, is if you came across a clash between Mr. Bunny and Mr. Sam, how would you deal with the situation? Some questions you should think about but not necessarily answer before you give your response folow: Do you let them sort it out themselves? Arrest one? Send one or both to a counsellor of some sort? And when would you interfere? Would you take the chance and get inbetween them? Or would you take another chance and count on Mr. Bunny outsmarting Mr. Sam once again, hoping that both survive and you can confront each individual while they are momentarily alone?"

"Discuss, class!"

Comments

Talk

[bugofjustice.livejournal.com]

Discuss Mr. Bunny, Mr. Sam, other chatter, any questions of Tick, and OOC stuff.

Re: Talk

[psycho-barbie.livejournal.com]

"Provided no one else was in immediate danger, I'd leave them fight it out to begin with, as the numerous encounters between these two suggests that either they like their current relationship, or are merely pawns in a bigger game, a contest between the gods perhaps, which would require resolving first.

"Naturally, if one of the two's actions endangered a bystander, for example, me, then I would be obligated to take that one out as my survival protection of innocents trumps all."

Re: Talk

[bugofjustice.livejournal.com]

"Hmm... Interesting analysis, Callisto! But what if either Mr. Bunny or Mr. Sam were hurt while you stood by? And if it were a contest between gods, what does that mean in terms of Justice?"

[OOC: Just a note to students reading this: I try to avoid annoying follow-up questions. If I ask follow-ups, I'm doing it because I think it's a natural part of the conversation. I will never ask stupid follow-up questions just to do so. Unless it's funny. But that's something else entirely.]

Re: Talk

[notstakedyet.livejournal.com]

Hopefully when Tick wasn't looking, Angel gave Callisto a small nudge and whispered, "Please tell me you're the one who wrote 'mine' all over two of my campaign posters."

Re: Talk

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

[ooc: This time with proper html.]

Sam listened to the lecture, then opened the lid of her coffee cup and eyed it suspiciously. She then sniffed, convinced someone had doctored it.

"I would look first and foremost for bystanders and get them out of the area or to relative safety if that wasn't possible. Then I'd try to get them to lay down their weapons and talk out their problems. However, since I'm not a trained negotiatior, I'd probably send them to mediation or something. Oh, and if there's not enough evidence for Sam to be arrested on multiple attempted murder charges, he should be made to do community service. Maybe at a cotton-pickin' varmint rabbit farm."

Re: Talk

[janet_fraiser]

Janet waved to Sam. She'd come to class on time today, with her backpack, and was wondering what Sam was staring at her coffee for.

"Does he have a license for his shotgun?" asked Janet. "What about a hunting license? You could get him on either of those, maybe."

Re: Talk

[bugofjustice.livejournal.com]

"Good solution, Sam-who-be-not-trying-to-kill-a-bunny! The first step should always be to look out for the safety of bystanders. And it's also good to realize your limitations."

Re: Talk

[fates_jaye]

"Cage match," Jaye says simply.

Re: Talk

[janet_fraiser]

Janet bursts out laughing. "That would solve a lot of problems."

Re: Talk

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"Armed or not?" Rory asked curiously.

Re: Talk

[actingltcrumpet.livejournal.com]

Archie's not sitting there thinking that this sounds like a great idea or anything.

Re: Talk

[can_be_more]

"If one attacks the other or poses danger to the people around them, then whoever caused the fight should be arrested," Aeryn says. "If they haven't done anything wrong, I would leave it up to them, to work things out between them. Personally, I think they're both insane."

Long pause. "A bunny? Seriously?"

Re: Talk

[janet_fraiser]

OOC: I say we go for 400 comments today. *snerk*

Re: Talk

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

"I'd call the police naturally. They might be trying to hurt each other, but they're still disrupting public order and they clearly mean to harm each other. It's not because both parties refuse to do the logical thing and report this matter, that it should be allowed to continue. Mr. Sam clearly deserves punishment for attempt at murder. While Mr. Bunny hasn't harmed anyone, he clearly needs help too. Getting him to a counsellor sounds like a good idea, although I'm thinking Mr. Sam could use a good session as well."

Yeah, he'd never be able to watch cartoons in quite the same way again.

Re: Talk

[janet_fraiser]

"As for what I'd do," said Janet. "I'd probably try to determine if there was a risk to any bystanders, call for backup the police, and after both were subdued, try to make sure each had any necessary medical attention." She frowned, thinking about where she wanted to go with that. "I presume then that the police would try to determine more about the long-standing rivalry and multiple charges would be pressed."

Re: Talk

[actingltcrumpet.livejournal.com]

"If they're that bound and determined to lock themselves in a futile and endless struggle, I would let them have at it in an environment where no bystanders can get hurt. Perhaps in something like the Danger Shop." Archie's goal this semester is to not let his facial expression in this class get too flabbergasted. (This goal has nothing to do with Jaye, really.)

"I would hope that eventually they would either tire themselves out or kill each other. In the case of the former, they might then be more easily persuaded to see reason. If not, well . . ." He shrugs. "At least no innocent bystanders will get injured?"

Re: Talk

[notstakedyet.livejournal.com]

Angel looked very serious as he took the lecture and the questions in.

"My main concern would be the bystanders. Where I'm from you get used to dealing with situations where the normal path to justice isn't going to help you. As long as the only people getting hurt are the two involved, I might not feel a need to step in.

"My bigger concern is the culture of victimization that encourages the bunny not to seek help. C'mon - there's even a rabbit season! Is it any wonder why he feels so much like an outcast that his only way to deal is to take justice into his own hands? Can't say I blame him."

Re: Talk

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

Parker is more than a little bit hungover, and it shows. She's got her shades on indoors, she's moving very carefully, and she keeps wincing.

"Mr. Bunny has a deathwish." Parker glares at Logan Echolls. "And obviously needs counseling. His arrogant belief in his own abilities could get innocent bystanders killed. Yosemite Sam, on the other hand, is clearly out of control. I'm not sure counseling could help. I wouldn't try to get between them, but get some kind of legal restraint on Mr. Sam, and if that doesn't work, forcibly detain him, while getting Mr. Bunny some help."

Re: Talk

[oatmanspatient.livejournal.com]

Marty sits at his desk. For some reason he has cellophane wrappers attached to his clothing and is carrying around an onion and some cooked asparagus.

"I think ^*both* parties deserve some kind of criminal charges," Marty said with his voice cracking. "The bunny is clearly aggravating the situation and asking for some kind of retaliation while Sam clearly has some anger issues and is out of control with his firearms. Both can be brought up on ^*char*-ahem-ges."

Re: Talk

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

Rory took her usual seat in the back, tapping a highlighter against her desk lightly and occasionally hiding a giggle behind her hand as she caught sight of Marty, Parker, Anakin, Veronica and Jaye.

Re: Talk

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

Bridge does a handstand as he thinks about the discussion question.

"I would wait until one of them escalates the fight to the point where bystanders are being threatened," Bridge says, still upside-down. "And then I would step in to arrest whichever one of it that did so before they can grow to gigantic proportions and start stomping on the city. If Mr. Sam wasn't precisely the one who'd escalated the fight this time, I'd let him go, but start an investigation in to whether he's got a license for that gun or not. Of course, if this took place during a time that wasn't rabbit-hunting-season, I'd arrest him regardless, because then it's pretty clear that he's breaking the law this time."

Re: Talk

[aka-vala.livejournal.com]

Vala frowned. "Considering neither of these two ever seems to cause permanent injury to the other (or to any bystanders), might they just be participating in a form of sado-masochistic play? Granted, it's probably not wise to do so with loaded weapons, and perhaps they should be counseled for that. But if not, is it truly our place to judge their relationship?"

Re: Talk

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

Anakin had slid into class exactly on time as always but had taken a seat in the back and was carefully avoiding eye contact with anyone.

He sat up straighter, wincing just a little bit from the overindulgence of the night before, as he heard the discussion topic for the day. For a moment his mind wandered, putting Logan as the bunny and himself as Mr. Sam, but he finally shook his head: even his temper wasn't quite as out of control as this short man's.

"The two definitely seemed to be locked in a cycle of violence that will not break without some kind of interference," he said. "Regardless of the feelings of the two of them, who might enjoy the relationsip for whatever reason, the cycle must be stopped before innocent beings are caught in their crossfire. Typically, there appears to be a verbal sparring match that builds to the violent behavior--I would interrupt at that point, before weapons are drawn, and begin negotiations." He frowned. "On a separate, but possibly related topic, it appears that Mr. Sam has difficulty communicating verbally. Perhaps this lack is causing the frustration that makes him reach for his weapons when most beings would continue talking. I would suggest some sort of speech therapy for him. Perhaps when he has more tools available to him to use in communication with others, he won't choose to shoot at them to get their attention."

Re: Talk

[2ls-in-oneill.livejournal.com]

"Well my first question would be to ask whether or not Mr. Sam has a permit for his gun, then I'd like to know whether or not he has the proper permits to hunt rabbit and whether or not it's the right season. If the answer to any of those is no then Mr. Sam needs to be booked and fined until he gets the right permits."

Re: Talk

[marsheadtilt.livejournal.com]

"I would encourage Mr. Bunny to obtain a restraining order against Mr. Sam so that he could have him arrested for breaking it if he threatened him again," Veronica said, very glad not to be speaking with a lisp anymore.