Bloggasm

So, let’s say that you just spent ten years in prison for some infamous crime and you’re now getting out so you can finally write your bestselling memoir about your brilliant run-in with the law. It turns out that a new law just passed in Canada tells you that you’re now not allowed to profit off your criminal acts at all:

Alberta lawmakers have taken steps to ensure crime doesn’t pay — at least for convicted criminals seeking a market for their stories.

Cabinet passed an order this week that will bring the Criminal Notoriety Act into effect Oct. 1.

The law, passed last fall, prohibits convicted criminals from receiving money for recounting their crimes for books, movies or the Internet.

Perhaps one day this will also be extended to people related to the crime in some way, like somebody on the jury or a dectective or lawyer. Many can remember the case of the Michael Jackson juror who had already signed a book deal before the trial even started. Perhaps one can argue that if there’s a factor of potential money in play, it could influence how they act before the verdict is decided. Possibly the most famous case of this is In Cold Blood. The film Capote seems to suggest that he actually started hoping that they’d be executed, just so he could finish his book. Imagine how things would have been different if Capote hadn’t been allowed to write the book in the first place.