> it seems like your position is that Behavior A often leads to Behavior B. Behavior B can harm you or your kid, so make Behavior A illegal.
For certain things, it's reasonable to police Behavior A rather than Behavior B. One could imagine speeding not being illegal, and punishing people extra for accidents if they were speeding. Society quite reasonably chooses to enforce the behavioral norms at an earlier stage. Likewise, if your kid almost steps on a syringe in a park (this is not uncommon in D.C.), what do you do? Arrest the guy who dropped it there?
I certainly don't expect everyone to agree with me, but imo you have not done anything wrong until you have actually harmed another person or at least exposed them to an immediate, concrete risk. littering directly harms the environment that we all live in. leaving dirty needles on the ground is even worse than regular trash; it's a biohazard. there should be serious penalties for doing this stuff. if it's so likely that degenerate drug users are going to leave dirty needles in the street, is it too much to ask that a cop wait five more minutes to watch them do it, then lock them up (substitute whatever punishment satisfies you here)?
For certain things, it's reasonable to police Behavior A rather than Behavior B. One could imagine speeding not being illegal, and punishing people extra for accidents if they were speeding. Society quite reasonably chooses to enforce the behavioral norms at an earlier stage. Likewise, if your kid almost steps on a syringe in a park (this is not uncommon in D.C.), what do you do? Arrest the guy who dropped it there?