Deterrent

Tonight I decided that we'd have Family Home Evening about going to prison. Or something like that.

I work in the courthouse downtown and there are holding cells in the basement where prisoners are kept on hearing days. I wanted my kids to see the cells, particularly the "facilities" so I could drive home the point that if the choice is "Commit Federal Crime" or "Not Commit Federal Crime".....they should go with the latter.

The marshals have a case on the wall that has a bunch of really scary-looking weapons in it that have been removed from people during arrests. You wouldn't believe it and, unfortunately, I neglected to take a picture of it (see previous post re: The Hart Family). There's a bowie knife, a gigantic meat cleaver (where was that hidden?!), several very big guns and a blow dart thingie. If I could get a blow dart thingie with tranquilizers...wow, think how quiet we'd be in church!

I did, however, get a shot of Abby in handcuffs.

Shortly after this, while Jesse the Marshal/Tour Guide was talking about the surveillance system in the building, she wriggled out and very smugly presented the marshal with his locked handcuffs. The marshal muttered something about not cinching them down because she's not REALLY under arrest, but she was quite proud of herself, nonetheless.

Here's Jesse and the kids all wearing their Marshal Badges and getting ready to apprehend federal criminals. Jesse swore he had a real badge somewhere but we were unconvinced.

Finally, we went back upstairs to gather up our things from chambers and the kids pretended they were a jury deciding a case. Abby wanted to be the foreperson so she could speak in open court, Rachel thinks prison garb is a crime....against fashion, Zach is committed to getting the law right and Spen thinks O.J. is totally guilty.

Afterwards, we went to Smith's Marketplace and saw a girl getting arrested. I told the kids that she was shoplifting and was going to jail forever. I even briefly considered asking the officer to talk to my kids about why this girl was getting handcuffed and hauled away in a cop car, but decided against it. After all, what if she was being busted for hooking, not shoplifting? Also, it might be just a touch intrusive, right in the middle of the arrest and all.

Rachel couldn't figure out the whole thing anyway: "Shoplifting? Like, the whole shop? She's strong!"