Bad rules help suppress minorities and vulnerable people

No matter whether a rule is good or bad, people in a position of authority will always be able to apply it selectively. They may show more leniency for violations committed by people they respect and be more likely to sanction people they dislike.

“Bad rules” (those that are ambiguous, subjective, not based on empirical evidence, likely to cause more harm than good in practice, etc) are more likely to be ignored or circumvented. Taken to an extreme, violating the rule may even become the norm (normalization of deviance).

In each of these cases, people in minority groups as well as other vulnerable people are exposed to even greater levels of risk than others. While members of the majority are likely to get away with minor rule infractions with little or no harm, minority group members would be more likely to face negative consequences for engaging in “rule breaking behavior”.

This is why I think it is especially important that we push back on rules or procedures which can be considered “bad”.