What if rape, murder, whatever was legal for 12 hours once a year every year?

People would be a helluva lot more polite the other 364 days a year.

Honestly wouldn't it mostly just turn into looting and serious fires?

Some people would go out hunting. However many would hide out in bunkers and activate mines and explosives. I'd invent a new type of mine. Electromagnetic that I could turn off for 364 days. My home security system would be beefier. Maybe pull out some borderline almost level 4 gun turrets that could mow down a mob. You never know.

Actually a pyscho might use the opportunity without police to blow up the city or whatever else they wanted to. Take out the cities power and maybe water and communication, then attack and pillage. A militia could take over towns. However the other 364 days, the military and police might sue and arrest the militia claiming some law was broken.

Terrorists would have a field day poisoning major water supplies, destroying infrastructure, etc, etc, unless the military was patrolling. Like I said, I don't think it would work.

Everyone would ignore the "except against high ranking government officials," and the population would number in the 100's long before the 12 hours is up.

is this the movie w/ethan hawke?

What's the name of the movie. I think I saw something with a plot with that description on Netflix.

More importantly, how would this affect strip clubs - Basically 2AMers would be legal for 12 hours? Would clubs stay open? Would them arm the bouncers? Maybe clubs would offer special "VIP bunkers" where you could hole up with your fav(s) for the night...

I mean my reaction would be "I've got 12 hours to rob a bank" not "Ooh I can rape and kill some people!". Maybe I'm in the minority.

I'm sure Obama would not follow the rules and use this as an excuse to wipe out the Tea Party and Fox News.

^^^ good one! executive privilege.

Saw "The Purge" and it was a decent movie. The premise is good but alot of the scenarios were preposterous at best with the usual case of actors doing things to put themselves in jeopardy that the average person would never do, like opening doors to people holding machetes, things like that.

Man, on a day like that there would be alot of overdo "housecleaning" done.

^^^^

there might even be some “overdue” housecleaning too

Saw the movie and it's not very realistic. LA has something like 40,000+ gang members who would take advantage of this situation with extreme prejudice.

^^^not to mention what would happen in prisons.

Yeah the movie had alot of holes in it. The general plot was actually pretty good, but as the movie progressed alot of the scenes fell apart. Coulda been much better done. But the premise was pretty good.

I felt the same way in regards to an interesting premise that just fell apart.

@slick, I believe the movie made note that since they instituted "the purge" that crime, unemployment and poverty had dropped considerably. I guess they thought that along with the "can't hurt certain officials" line would close a lot of holes.

The problem with can't hurt certain officials is how would you know before shooting someone if you shot first and asked questions later? In a kill or be killed world, I'm not going to stop shooting except to save ammo.

I suppose all banks and anyplace with money would be heavily fortified with armed guards inside. The government might make them all level four or above inside the building so that they could nail your ass if you succeeded in robbing the place. You know the banksters and high ranking officials would want a way out to cover themselves and steal any money right back the other 364 days.

It would suck big time for everyone critically injured, had their property catch fire, or had a heart attack or other emergency right after The Purge started. 12 hours can seem like an eternity.

It's an interesting plot but what I saw in the movie was just what could happen in any neighborhood with some not so nice neighbors. It was all centered on one guys house and you heard tv news and saw security cameras outside the house.

I agree for those willing to act like it's Black Friday for those willing to risk their lives to steal as much as possible, it could be a busy day. However you'd have to watch your back for whomever was waiting for you to get back home with your loot or you might get ambushed after you robbed the bank, robbed Best Buy, robbed Walmart, robbed a dozen other people and shot them to make sure they weren't coming after you.

It could in fact be a police officer who kills you and takes your loot before The Purge was over, or another gang. I suspect a number of gangs would be roaming around. Would they let everyone out if prison for 12 hours and activate an implanted kill device if they weren't back at the end of the 12 hours? That would really cut own on prison costs. I think it's cheaper to keep everything you have in working order rather than repair all the damaged property after The Purge. Insurance costs would skyrocket if insurance still covered all the massive damage during a purge. A number of people would go 13 or 14 hours or longer after they got a taste of stealing and killing if they liked it. It might be like sex. If they like it, they aren't going to wait a whole year to do it again. Lots of holes in the plot that It would reduce crime the other 364 days.

I would not murder anybody, although I know people who deserve it.

Nor would I rape. But I hope Kate Upton does not come by to tempt me.

There is a movie based on this outrageous premise?

Yes it's called The Purge. I have a couple of movie channels and I thought it sounded interesting so I watched it. Supposedly the US had new Founding Fathers that reduced crime overall and violence by letting everyone get it all out one day a year for 12 hours. Level 4 and higher weapons are prohibited along with attacking high ranking government officials but everything else is legal for those 12 hours. I thought it sounded crazy but interesting.

Sounds like an interesting theme for a movie. Gotta check it out.

1. In the movie, everyone's main focus is to kill someone they don't like, or something that deals with the plot, I group of rich kids that kill homeless people just for fun. The movie doesn't go into any details of people wanting to rob banks or looting.

2. They're coming out with the purge 2 this summer. Different actors and plot. This one is about a guy whose family was murdered in a previous purge and to get revenge he goes out and protects innocent victims on the night of the purge.