Panel takes aim at dogfight spectators

[flashl]

Source: Time Picayune

House bill advances to beef up penalties

BATON ROUGE -- Hoping to choke off the wagering that fuels illegal dogfights, a House committee backed legislation Thursday that would send spectators at the events to prison for up to 10 years.

The Committee on the Administration of Criminal Justice gave unanimous support to House Bill 286 by Rep. J.P. Morrell, D-New Orleans, sending it to the House floor for debate. Although dogfights already are illegal, Morrell said the betting that accompanies them can make it worth the risk of staging them.

The bill would replace the misdemeanor punishment now in the law for attending a dogfight -- up to a $500 fine and six months in jail -- with nearly the same felony sentences as dogfighting or operating a dogfighting arena: up to 10 years in prison, and fines ranging from $1,000 to $25,000.

Morrell said the bill could take some people out of the dogfighting business by taking away the profit motive.

Time Picayune

Read more: http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/capital/index.ssf?/base/news-5/120789142927440.xml&coll=1

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More prison sentences. Where are they going to find the space?

[pitohui]

1. they just won't arrest anyone

they'll look the other way, as police officers do when they think a punishment is vastly out of proportion to the crime

hard to get any enforcement of dogfighting to begin with, a law like this should guarantee that police officers will quit looking into dogfighting cases altogether

you can't put litterbugs and people who bet on dogfights in jail longer than murderers -- keeping in mind louisiana is the land of the 90 day homicide -- and expect anyone in the system to be real interested in enforcing those laws

and they wonder why there is a lack of morale in police departments?

i think they should enforce the laws they have and slap a few fines on the dogfight gamblers, this is something they could and would actually do to break up the games...

[TomInTib]

2. Oh, please...

What bullshit.

We raced horses for years. I watched plenty of them die on the track, doing exactly what they were bred for and lived to do. I wonder if there will eventually be a criminal statute for that.

[harmonicon]

7. perhaps there will be

Animals dying for food is one thing, but raising animals for entertainment, especially when that entertainment involves gambling, is highly immoral and ought to be brought to an end one way or another. I'd rather there not be laws for these sorts of things, but that people would just have common sense and respect animals for the beings that they are.

Yes, flame away.

[TomInTib]

9. No flame, here.

We had a fine animal that was impaled on a shattered gatepost (long story) and I said, "F**k it, that's enough".

I had just had it, and couldn't bear to see another one go down.

[harmonicon]

10. JESUS!! That's awful!!

God, I'm so sorry. It sucks to lose an animal.

[daleo]

3. Force the spectators to fist-fight

In a ring, while a crowd of dogs looks on. I think that would end this "sport" pretty quickly.

Just a modest proposal.

[superconnected]

5. Or make them fight the dogs.

:evilgrin:

I'd love to throw them in a room with a few rabid pit bulls.

[SquireJons]

4. Overstepping

Charging the operators and financiers is one thing, but going after "spectators" is another. An investigative reporter or writer could be put away for 10 years just for seeing a fight. Not a good idea.

[LeftyMom]

6. A lot of places have a rule like that for street racing.

Both because of the gambling and other related crime that goes on, and because street race spectators have a bad habit of getting run over. So it's hardly unprecedented.

[flvegan]

8. 10 years seems extreme. I think

that the spectators should be heavily fined, and those fines liened against any property they own. Short jail term, Felony record. Now the dogmen should get heavier penalties, and should include seizure of any and all property (cars, trucks, equipment) found there, as well as the land property the fight was on if the owner had ANY knowledge at all of the events.