A Red Light For Scofflaws By Frank Trippett Summary

“When it comes to tax codes, or laws against littering or speeding or noise pollution, more and more ordinary citizens are becoming scofflaws [people who casually break the law]” (Trippett, A Red Light for Scofflaws). Frank Trippett in his excerpt, A Red Light for Scofflaws, argues that American citizens are casually breaking ‘minor’ laws in belief that these precepts are not that important, unlike the really violent crimes. The author supports his claim by first divulging what might the citizens think about the ‘minor’ laws. He then describe what he thought the people would do in regards to these laws (whether they would follow them or not). The author is trying to inform the commonality of the importance of this society’s laws, whether ‘minor’ or violent in order to make the people realize that every law are established and it is the people’s responsibility to obey them. In agreement with Trippett, today’s citizens are more prone to disobeying the ordinary, simple laws in thought that violent crimes are the main threats to the law and order of this society.

They might also argue that the government should be more focus on establishing legislations against those who have done immoral things, such as murder, rape, drug-use, etc. What they are arguing is truthful, but that does not mean that people who violate ‘minor’ laws should not be punished. They still committed crimes or violated laws that were established before us. People who committed any types of crimes whether ‘minor’ or violent should be punished according to the crime that they committed. Violating the law is not solely based on whether you murdered someone, it is also based on committing crimes that are against the established laws in this