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An effort in Lansing hopes to rid Michigan of outdated laws

FLICKR USER OMAR CHATRIWALA / FLICKR

No swearing in front of women or children, and don’t you dare sell dyed chicks or bunnies!

Those are just a couple of the extremely old laws still on the book in Michigan.

There’s an effort underway now in Lansing to scrub some of these outdated laws away – an effort to shrink the size of the state’s criminal code.

Rick Pluta, Lansing Bureau Chief for the Michigan Public Radio Network, added that there’s also a “no dueling law” in Michigan’s books.

“But also, you cannot publicly shame in print someone for refusing the challenge to dual,” he said.

While some of these laws are odd and crazy, Republican state Rep. Chris Afendoulis of Grand Rapids views getting rid of outdated laws as serious business.

“Our overall criminal code is disorganized and it does place our citizens at risk of unintentionally violating a growing array of crimes that we’ve put on the books,” he said.

Pluta agrees.

“First of all, there’s sort of the principle of it: that a law, anachronistic or not, can still be used to prosecute someone,” he said.

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