You Could Go to Jail

About the Book

Laws are created to protect countries, cities, and counties from criminal and deviant acts. But for any of these statutes to exist, there must have been behavior to precipitate the need for them. In his collection of humorous mandates of legislatures, seasoned attorney Bernie Siler shares a glimpse into the seemingly innocent and bizarre acts that are legitimate violations of law in certain places.

Siler’s deeply researched compilation includes excerpts from laws that state the obvious (or not so obvious) regarding alleged criminal activity. In Saint Louis, leading a marching band through a church during a service is prohibited. It is illegal to keep a rabbit in Culver City, California, within thirty-five feet of the air shaft of a bakery. It is against the law to ride an ox while drunk in Baltimore. In Brisbane, Australia, you must “take a horse out of water where people are bathing if ordered by police.” Finally, if you fly a kite in Palmdale, California, it must be at least four hundred feet off the ground. Through it all, Siler proves that it may not be as hard to land in jail as we originally thought.

You Could Go to Jail shares a collection of obscure and ridiculous statutes that astonishingly can still be enforced in today’s world.

About the Author

Bernie Siler has been a prosecutor for the District of Columbia since 1988 and has practiced law in general since 1980. As a prosecutor, he has tried and negotiated pleas in almost every type of criminal case imaginable. Siler has published articles in the Washington Post and Washington Times. This is his first book.