In the course of the search, the investigating officers seized The Anarchist Cookbook. The search warrant was issued upon probable cause to believe that Parr had been involved in marijuana sales. Parr, after he was indicted by a federal grand jury for the crime of threatening to use a weapon of mass destruction, complained about the July 2001 search of his house. One criminal defendant complained when authorities seized his copy of the book. Courts have consistently blessed the practice of seizing this book during an investigation, almost as if The Anarchist Cookbook qualified as contraband. Indeed, not a single American court opinion has taken issue with law enforcement’s seizure of The Anarchist Cookbook during a raid, even when judges are reluctant to ultimately admit the book into evidence. In this sense, literate criminals are prosecuted in part for their particular reading habits, if those habits include this particular book. If you do, it could well be seized by law enforcement and used against you in your criminal trial. However, if you are suspected of being involved in some crime involving guns or explosives or drugs, it is very dangerous to have a copy of The Anarchist Cookbook at your house or on your computer. It might not be “contraband” in this sense. It is not illegal for Americans who are not incarcerated to possess the book, nor to buy it or download it. If, as Grimm suggests, border officials can be expected to seize the book during searches, The Anarchist Cookbook might qualify. ![]() Another common definition of contraband is something that has been imported or exported illegally. It seems that the book is generally not permitted in American prisons, judging by cases in which individual prisoners unsuccessfully litigated their right to possess the book in their cells. This, however, did not happen with Powell’s book, leaving the problem up to cops and prosecutors.ĭoes American law enforcement treat The Anarchist Cookbook as “contraband”? One definition of contraband is an item that is not permitted in prison. However, maybe there is a less dramatic alternative to reduce the harmful impact of such books, like American intellectuals stepping up to the plate and thoroughly criticizing them for what they are and explaining that they should not be followed. Should law enforcement censor certain books by treating them as contraband? With certain unique books like The Anarchist Cookbook, maybe they should, in the cause of public safety. When authorities see it, they should seize it. If border officials come across it during a search, they are expected to confiscate it because - in Grimm’s parlance - it is “evidence of contraband or criminality.” The same is not true of a passenger’s personal diary, which, according to Grimm, border officials could not examine line-by-line without reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing. Grimm’s statement showed awareness that this book holds a special place in the minds of American law enforcement. Powell was visibly pained by this realization, and died shortly after the interview. The problem for Powell is the sense that his book inspired several notorious terrorists, both right- and left-wing, over the last several decades. ![]() The footage of his interview indicated that Powell had not read or touched the book since he wrote it almost 50 years ago and that he had renounced it and its ideas, hoping it would go out of print. Powell died recently, but not before a documentary filmmaker caught up with him in France, where he had been based for several decades while doing good things around the world. It contains diagrams and instructions on how to construct various explosive devices, and (based on its content) was apparently aimed at people interested in conducting guerilla warfare in the United States. Written by a 19-year-old anti-war activist named William Powell and published by a controversial New York house in 1971, it became a bestseller in radical circles and is still available on the internet. ![]() To people versed in radical literature, The Anarchist Cookbook is well-known. N practice, officers are expected to use their discretion to focus on more likely evidence of contraband or criminality - to ensure that what appears to be a diary is not actually The Anarchist Cookbook, and to move on. Grimm to address the American practice of border searches of incoming passengers: After his smartphones and flash drive were seized at the U.S.-Canadian border on July 18, 2013, Saboonchi moved to “suppress the fruits of warrantless forensic searches” at the border. export restrictions on trade with the Islamic Republic of Iran. In a federal prosecution in Maryland, Ali Saboonchi was charged with violating U.S.
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