Allison Leigh Cowan, late of The New York Times had one concerning college admissions and how to weed out lawbreakers. Do some actual prescreening.
Start by asking applicants to pledge that they will be respectful, law-abiding members of the community if admitted. Assuming no one quibbles with that minimal threshold, delve a bit further using moral-reasoning prompts drawn from recent headlines. Applicants can reply with a simple “yes” or “no,” or submit longer answers:
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- Is it ever justified to spit on another human being?
- Is it ever justified to pull a fire alarm in a crowded auditorium to protest a speaker some find offensive?
- Is it ever justified to mar public spaces with hard-to-remove graffiti? Should perpetrators pay to clean it up?
- Is it ever justified for a private individual to assassinate another private individual?
- Is it ever justified to burn a Quran? What about destroying a mezuza on someone’s door?
- Is it ever justified to restrain custodians or other bystanders as part of a protest?
- Is it ever justified to set fire to the homes of authority figures?
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These are, as Cowan acknowledges, navel-gazing questions, but diligent reviews of the answers can serve as useful prescreening.
Here’s another idea: in addition to that prescreening, a good idea in concept but as with all prescreening, it’s imperfect, take the follow-on step: those inclined to foment chaos or who change and become prone, should be expelled promptly and with prejudice when they do start to foment chaos, and those who broke laws in the doing should be criminally prosecuted, equally promptly.