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In another comment I proposed tying a financial payout to those who have been wrongfully arrested. Such a payout would (or should) be enough of a financial burd
by ncallaway 11y ago
In another comment I proposed tying a financial payout to those who have been wrongfully arrested. Such a payout would (or should) be enough of a financial burden that prosecutors get rewarded for avoiding large payouts — or punished for incurring large payouts.
The fact of the matter is there is no real downside for a prosecutor right now to put away the wrong person. Prosecutors have every incentive to put away anyone that they think they can. These payouts would also be a very good metric for judging the relative size of the problems, and which areas have the worst issues.
- DanielBMarkham 11y agoI love the financial payout idea. The system is broken structurally -- it's not just a few bad people. The best answer for something like that is not to go after individuals, but make the bad behavior more expensive for all involved. At some cost, it'll work itself out.
- thaumasiotes 11y agoThe common point against rewards for wrongful imprisonment is that it makes it harder for the wrongfully imprisoned to get out of jail, by penalizing the government for admitting a mistake. As things currently are, prosecutors will fight tooth and nail and illegally hide evidence just to avoid admitting the mistake, so it's unclear exactly how much harder it would make things.