Especially during the Warren Court years there was an unexpressed undercurrent in the opinions that US law enforcement had gotten too involved in political repression, of civil rights workers, anti-war demonstrators, union organizers, Communists, alternative religions, and such.
Leaving politics to the side, many crimes were "victimless," obscene language (Lenny Bruce, Ginsberg's Howl), showing naked women (Eros magazine), describing sexual situations (Lady Chatterly's Lover, Ulysses, Naked Lunch).
It's very hard for me to accept that anybody that the cops "like" for a crime is automatically a scumbag, worthy of no protection. |
