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The mystery of the disappearing Silk Road murder charges
- moomin 9y agoPlea deals are the root cause of a lot of evil in the American justice system.
- gt_ 9y agoAt first glance, I would think the prevalence of them relies on some lower level issues. But maybe you're right. They sure seem to occur along with most of the more rotten dealings. I guess the option of them just creates a judicial environment where there's nothing too harsh for the books because it can be mitigated in a plea deal, which opens the door to any subversion desired by the few enforcing parties. Is this basically what you're saying?
- dragonwriter 9y ago> They sure seem to occur along with most of the more rotten dealings They occur in the vast majority of all criminal cases that are filed, “rotten dealings” or not.
- moomin 9y ago97 percent of federal cases and 94 percent of state cases end in a plea deal. That's a conviction rate comparable to the most authoritarian regimes in the world. Sentencing is mostly in the gift of the prosecutor, not a judge. Threatened charges without much to back them up are common, and you don't have time to investigate them because the plea deal is time limited. This is a way, way, bigger scandal than Ulbricht.
- gt_ 9y agoUgh, yeah that's awful.
- moomin 9y agoI'm saying prosecutorial practice in the US is entirely structured around plea deals, and guilt, innocence or standards of evidence are rarely significant.
- Vadoff 9y agoOr more likely, the murder charges didn't have a lot of weight to them to begin with.
- krisives 9y agoLyn has been through so much =(
- danielvf 9y agoArticle is from 2014