JC> Well, Charles keeps insisting that he is a "criminal". To my way of 
thinkin
  > that implies that he has been convicted of some kind of crime and has 
een
  > incarcerated. One could also wind up in jail after being _charged_ with a
  > crime, but not ever convicted. In which case, that non-convicted person 
s
  > technically not a criminal. Neither Charles nor I clarified it as to why 
we
  > were in jail. (And as you say, it could even have been a visit. My wife 
has
  > been "in jail" more than once having toured corrections facilities.)
I've known enough people who have been in jail, after being convicted of
crimes, and who have turned into very worthwhile people, that I don't
hold the mere act of having been incarcerated against anyone.  I've also
known people who have been incarcerated as kids for crimes they would
never have been incarcerated for if they had not been a member of a
minority group and poor.  Like the 18 year old with no criminal record
who went to jail for stealing a pack of cigarettes.  He was a poor
Indian.  There was probably a connection.
JC> IMHO, Charles is "stretching" the point when he equates being a 
criminal"
  > to not wearing a seatbelt. I have never heard of anyone around here going
  > to jail for that. (If they get stopped by a law enforcement officer and
  > hassle the officer they are probably going to wind up in jail charged 
ith
  > "hassling" NOT "not wearing". If they get a citation for "not wearing" 
nd
  > refuse to pay the fine, they are probably charged with "contempt of 
ourt"
  > or some such thing, not "not wearing a seatbelt".
Grin!  They don't incarcerate people here for not wearing seat belts
either.  As  matter of fact, in every application I've seen that asks,
"Have you ever been convicted of a crime?", they add a statement saying
that they don't mean traffic violations.
JC> That's the feeling jail _should_ impart on everyone, but obviously 
doesn't.
For some people, it's merely a rite of pasage.
                       Sondra
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 þ SLMR 2.1a þ I know so little, but I know it fluently.  Robert McKay
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