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34 Myths About History and the Law That’ll Make You Want to Punch a Textbook

YOU LIED TO ME

34 Myths About History and the Law That’ll Make You Want to Punch a Textbook

July 13, 2024

Lying by omission is still lying, McGraw Hill!

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34

MYTH: A family sued Disney when their kids saw characters out of costume. FACT: They'd been falsely accused of theft. The Boozer family was accused of stealing a $2.50 souvenir. Despite the fact that they had a receipt, they were taken backstage and questioned for two and a half hours as their children, aged 2 and 5, looked on. When they were finally released, a group of costumed characters without the heads entered the backstage area. It freaked the kids out so hard that they needed therapy, so the family sued. CRACKED.COM http://articles .latimes.com/1990-07-14/news/mn-323_1_mickey-mouse — Source

33

Crime Scene Investigators

MYTH: CSI teams sweep through the scene of a crime and solve it, fast. FACT: That's only on TV. Crime scene investigators don't solve cases. Their role is to collect enough evidence to support a case against the suspect who has been identified by old-fashioned police work. And the process isn't quick. Some laboratory tests, such as DNA samples, toxicology, and blood reports, can take weeks or even months to process. Also, while DNA criminal databases do exist, less than 1/10th of all criminals are a part of it. CRACKED.COM http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4284335.stm — Source

32

McDonald’s Coffee Lawsuit

MYTH: Remember the woman who frivolously sued when her coffee was too hot? FACT: She was actually cripplingly burned. Stella Liebeck, 79, was sitting in the passenger seat of her grandson's car when she took the lid off her drive-through coffee to add cream and sugar. It spilled in her lap and gave her third-degree burns over six percent of her body, necessitating skin grafts and an eight-day hospital stay. She offered to settle for $20,000 but McDonald's refused to pay. CRACKED.COM http://www.lectlaw.com/files/cur78.htm — Source

31

MYTH: 60 Minutes ran a story about a man who sued because his ladder slipped in manure. FACT: Не actually sued because the ladder broke. The story that still circulates on the internet is that he set up his ladder in frozen manure, and when it thawed, the ladder slipped. But the ladder didn't slip, it broke. It broke with less than 450 pounds of weight on it, when it was supposedly rated safe up to 1000 pounds. CRACKED.COM Stephen Daniels, Joanne Martin, 1995 Civil Juries and the Politics of Reform. — Source

30

MYTH: Remember the mother who sued the school when her daughter was caught having oral sex? SCHOOL BUS EMERGENCY DOOR FACT: The girl was actually the victim of assault. The story that ran in Newsweek made it sound like the mother was blaming the school for her daughter's actions. In fact, the girl was suspended for being caught performing oral sex on the school bus. When it came out that she had been forced to do it, the school suspended her again for not reporting it. The mother's lawsuit asked that school employees receive training on dealing with assault victims. — Source

29

Haunted Houses

MYTH: Did you hear about the woman who sued a haunted house for being too scary? FACT: She was chased by a guy with a chainsaw after her tour was over. Cleanthi Peters, 57, and her granddaughter, 10, had finished their tour of the Universal Studios haunted house. Not only did some costumed jackass chase her, he stood over her revving his chainsaw after she'd fallen and hurt herself. The lawsuit was actually over the wet floor she slipped on. CRACKED.COM http ://articles orlandosentinel. com/2000-01-05/news/ 0001050039_1_halloween-horror-nights-maniac-anguish — Source

28

Serial Killers

MYTH: Movie and TV serial killers are geniuses (or at least clever). FACT: Actual serial killers have below-average IQs. A study of over 2,600 serial killers found that they were no smarter than your everyday idiot, with an average IQ of 94.7. This makes sense when you consider how the most famous ones got caught: Charles Manson was found hiding under a sink. John Wayne Gacy voluntarily went through a Secret Service background check. Jeffrey Dahmer left Polaroids of his murders lying around his house. Etc. CRACKED.COM http://www.businessinsider.com/a-surprising-look-at-the-average-serial-killer-2015-5 — Source

27

MYTH: Want to get away with murder? Plead insanity. FACT: That's not a Get Out of Jail Free card. The Insanity Defense is attempted in less than one percent of all legal cases, and the defense is successful less than 25 percent of the time. Three states in the US don't even allow insanity as a defense. If the plea succeeds, you don't get to just go home. You get sent to a mental institution where you don't have a set sentence at all. They keep you as long as they see fit, which may be forever. CRACKED.COM http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/crime/trial/faqs.html — Source

26

Movie Myths

MYTH: Being a hitman requires a special skill set. FACT: Fancy hitmen don't exist in the real world. A U.K. study of hitmen showed that the stereotype of the suit-wearing, surgical, master assassin is far from the truth. Most hitmen are average Joes (aside from the killing people thing). They're usually first-time, local individuals who are so hard up for money they can't even leave the area after the kill. Incidentally, they also get caught a lot. CRACKED.COM http://manbcmedia.msn.com//MSNBC/Sections/NEWS/HOJOTheBritishHitmanIR2.pdf — Source

25

MYTH: If you want to be rolling in dough, you should pull off a bank job. FACT: Bank robberies have very low payouts. In 2010, bank robberies netted an average of $7,500, and there's a roughly 25 percent chance your ass will get caught. Unlike in the movies, the cash is locked up and requires a complicated authentication process to retrieve it. Since you're under the gun, as it were, you get what's in the teller's drawer, which is a few thousand bucks, tops. CRACKED.COM http://theweek.com/articles/474644/poor-rewards-robbing-banks-by-numbers — Source

24

MYTH: It takes time to trace a call, so keep that kidnapper talking! FACT: Calls are automatically, instantly traced. Thanks to enhanced 9-1-1, land line calls are instantly paired to an address. That's so emergency responders will immediately know where an urgent call is coming from, in case the caller is unable to speak. And cell phones aren't any more secure, because today the FBI can track down and remotely turn on any cell phone, and even use it as a microphone to spy on people. CRACKED.COM https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enhanced_9-1-1 — Source

23

MYTH: If a cop doesn't read you your Miranda rights, you can walk. FACT: Those rights apply to interrogation, not arrest. Despite what you see on every cop show ever, failing to advise a suspect of his or her Miranda rights doesn't mean the arrest doesn't count. And even if you're interrogated without being told your rights, all it means is that your testimony can't be used in court against you. CRACKED.COM http://criminal-law.freeadvice.com/criminal-law/drunk_driving/miranda_warning.htm — Source

22

MYTH: When you're arrested, you get one free phone call. FACT: Nope, that's absolutely not the law. The one phone call rule is purely a Hollywood invention. Now that goes both ways; some jails have pay phones and you can call whomever you want as long as the person on the other end is willing to pay for it, but they don't have to let you use the phone at all. If you're being refused the right to make a call, an attorney can argue on your behalf. But they need to demonstrate that it's an important call. CRACKED.COM http://jriaw.com/arrested/ — Source

21

MYTH: Worried about the police? You might be tempted to film them. On Original POLIC POLICE FACT: In more and more states, that's illegal. In the past, lower federal courts have generally held that the First Amendment protects your right to videorecord in public places, especially if you're recording public servants such as the police. But in a number of states, courts have decided that unless the officers give consent to being filmed, you're committing a crime. And the video you thought would protect you can land you in prison for 15 years. CRACKED.COM http://gizmodo.com/5553765/are-cameras-the-new-guns — Source

20

MYTH: The First Amendment establishes separation of church and state. CHURCH ST SE 100 ST SE 500 STATE FACT: It says that Congress can't pick one religion. The full mention of religion in the First Amendment goes: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. At the time it was penned, many states had official religions. The idea behind that section of the amendment was to prevent the federal government from establishing a nationwide religion that would override the individual state religions. CRACKED.COM http://scholarship. — Source

19

Police Warrants

MYTH: Police can't enter your home without a warrant, right? FACT: They can, if they think you're up to something. On the cop shows, police are like vampires-they can't come in unless you invite them. But in the real world, they can invoke exigent circumstances, an emergency regulation that permits officers to enter a building without a warrant. They're allowed to do it as long as they think evidence is about to be destroyed, someone's in danger, or a suspect is fleeing. Please note the phrase if they think. CRACKED.COM https://definitions.uslegal.com/e/exigent-circumstances/ — Source

18

MYTH: When the police ask you a question, you'd better answer. FACT: You always have the right not to answer. The right to remain silent doesn't just apply when you're arrested. It's always there, because of the Fifth Amendment. You can't be coerced or forced into saying something that might incriminate you. On cop shows, refusing to speak is treated as obstruction of justice. It isn't. Lying or destroying evidence is, but simply refusing to speak (aside from supplying your name, in some states) isn't. CRACKED.COM https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_and_identify_statutes — Source

17

MYTH: A cop has to prove that you were speeding to issue a ticket. H - TARGET - FACT: In Ohio, the officer can just guess. That's as of June 2010, when the Ohio Supreme Court decided that a trained officer doesn't need newfangled gizmos like radar guns to determine if a car was speeding. In accordance with the ruling, the visual estimate of an experienced police officer is enough to convict anyone of speeding. Without independent verification or evidence. http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2010/ CRACKED.COM 06/02/ohio-supreme-court-speed-estimate-valid.html — Source

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16

MYTH: Worried about criminal activity? It's got to be all those immigrants. FACT: Immigrants are less likely to commit crimes. First-generation immigrants (including undocumented ones) are actually 45 percent less likely to commit a crime than people born in the US. Border cities with higher rates of illegal immigration have lower crime rates than the national average, a trend that extends back well before we started upping border security. In fact, it appears that as the number of immigrants goes up, the crime rate goes down. CRACKED.COM http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/washington/2011-07-15-border-violence-main_n.htm — Source

15

MYTH: Undercover officers have to tell the truth when asked if they're cops. FACT: That'd be incredibly unsafe if it were true. This is one of those tension-building devices in undercover cop movies (like in Deep Cover, where the hero is forced to answer yes when asked the are you a cop question, then plays it off as sarcasm). But even if asked directly, police officers have no obligation to blow their cover. Otherwise sting operations couldn't exist, because even the dumbest criminal could blow it with one question. CRACKED.COM http://www.snopes. com/risque/hookers/cop.asp — Source

14

MYTH: Americans should speak English. It's our official language, right? bridges, English adj language on Ca FACT: Britain, Irel Nope, and it's nowhere in the Constitution. Attempts to make English the official language of the United States have repeatedly failed, although they have succeeded at the state level. So far, 31 states have passed laws declaring English as an official language. An official language, not the only one. Hawaii, for example, has also declared native Hawaiian as an official language, while Alaska declared their 20 indigenous languages official. https://www.washingtonpost. com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2014/06/18/ CRACKED.COM when-and-why-do-u-s-states-make-english-their-official-language/ — Source

13

MYTH: Are you fed up with the Electoral College deciding elections? - by state - NH ME VT 3 4 4 WA ND 11 MT 3 MN 3 NY 10 OR 31 ID 7 SD WI MI 4 3 10 PA WY 17 21 3 IA OH NE IN 7 IL NV 20 5 WV VA 11 5 21 UT 5 CO 13 KY KS CA 5 MO 9 8 NC 6 55 11 15 TN 11 SC OK AZ ...0-3 ..O AR 8 NM 7 GA 10 6 AL 5 15 MS Ak 9 LA 6 3 TX 9 34 FL — Source

12

MYTH: You probably think drinking in a bar can't get you arrested. FACT: But in states with broad intoxication laws, it can. In 2006, Texas scored the highest number of drunk-driving fatalities in the country. So they decided to address the problem by arresting people for getting drunk in bars. Not only have they decided a bar is part of the public that public intoxication forbids, but they don't require a Breathalyzer test to determine if a suspect really is drunk. In 2009, Fort Worth cleared out gay bars using this law. CRACKED.COM http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2010/03/texas-racist-laws-drinking-while-brown — Source

11

CRACKED.COM MYTH: The Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4th. It was drafted on June 11 and 28, presented to Congress on July 2, and revised on July 3 and 4. It was adopted by the Congress on July 4th. However, John Hancock didn't lay his big ol' signature down until August 4th. — Source

10

CRACKED.COM MYTH: The United States is exceptional. The American character is distinctive in some regards (like in its religiosity, optimistic individualism, and disregard for other countries' interests) but these qualities don't consistently set the American people apart from the rest of the world. — Source

9

Original Cowboys

CRACKED.COM MYTH: Cowboys are uniquely American The original cowboys were Mexican cattlemen, known as vaqueros, who predate America cowboys. They taught future American cowboys how to do everything that's now considered classic cowboy, and eventually one in three cowboys were Mexican vaqueros.

8

CRACKED.COM MYTH: The Supreme Court has always had nine justices The number of justices is set by Congress. At its founding, the Supreme Court only had six members. To help cement anti-slavery, Abraham Lincoln helped to add a tenth seat. In the 1930s, Franklin D. Roosevelt even proposed raising the number to 15. — Source

7

CRACKED.COM MYTH: The Pilgrims definitely landed on Plymouth Rock It wasn't until 121 years after William Bradford & Co. set foot on land that there's any mention of the granite. A son of a Pilgrim told of its signification, but the only surviving firsthand accounts make no mention of it. — Source

6

The Founding Fathers

CRACKED.COM MYTH: The Founding Fathers were Christians. No matter who you include as a Founding Father, not all of them were Christian. Deism (which prioritizes human experience and rationality over religious dogma and texts) had a huge influence during their time. — Source

5

CRACKED.COM MYTH: Betsy Ross created the first American flag There's no evidence to suggest this, aside from her grandson's account. Historians have confirmed that she made flags for the Pennsylvania State Navy Board. — Source

4

Martin Luther King Jr.

CRACKED.COM MYTH: Martin Luther King Jr. was a beloved leader during his life. King was an incredibly famous yet divisive figure. At the year of his death, he had an unfavorable rating of 63%. The FBI even attempted to blackmail him to commit suicide. Within civil rights circles, he was criticized for both being too radical and not radical enough. — Source

3

CRACKED.COM MYTH: The Founding Fathers had a shared vision for the country. If we wanted to ask What would the Founding Fathers think?, we wouldn't even know who to ask. There are never-ending debates among historians who is even counted as a Founding Father. Among the individuals considered, they had very conflicting views. — Source

2

CRACKED.COM MYTH: Immigrants' last names were Americanized on Ellis Island Officials at Ellis Island didn't record names onto paper. Changes to names were made later, by the immigrants themselves. — Source

1

CRACKED.COM MYTH: Christopher Columbus discovered the U.S. Even ignoring that indigenous people had been in America for over 20,000 years before Columbus, Leif Erikson is believed to have led the first European expedition to North America...500 years before Columbus was even born. Columbus never even stepped on U.S. soil. Не went to several Caribbean islands, and Central and South America. — Source

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