<The RICO statute comes very close to convicting people by association alone and as such it can be abused very easily. The same difficulties are bound to occur when similar laws are written to combat other associations of people (i.e. terrorist organizations).

Very true, Scott. The thing is, I'm not sure we have a carefully constructed body of law directed at the detention and prosecution of terrorists. I don't think the Patriot Act counts; it was very much the finger in the dike, a first effort that produced a dramatic effect but is bound to fail in the long run.

The parallels with RICO are very strong. I have no doubt that RICO could act as a template for a suite of anti-terrorist laws. But of course other issues, such as the involvement of religion and possible First Amendment complications stemming from that, will have to be considered. It's OK to stake out a gym or a restaurant, but staking out a house of worship is a little iffy. ;)

The police need the support afforded by well-crafted law with enough flex to allow creative interp and enough structure to let them know where the limits are. They also need the drills based on those laws so they have a script of behaviors to fall back on in times of stress, such as the apprehension of possible terrorists. The former should come from the Attorney General's office to be proposed in Congress through the President's legislative contacts, and run past the ABA for legal critiques; the latter should be coming from the Homeland Security Office.

Police have enough to do just to enforce the law. They shouldn't have to ad lib. It's damn dangerous for them and disastrous for Constitutional protections. The old model of the beat cop who was the law on the street and might mete out some approximate justice was based on an officer who knew the people in his patrol area personally. That model no longer pertains in our highly-mobile America. But we still, in some ways, cling to a hope based on that model: that the police are wiser than other people because they're police. That's not fair and it's not safe.

So I hope for some planning and some training. We are dealing with organized madness. We need to meet it with organized reason.

Regards--
Mary Anne