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Or, you could aim for less prosecutions of crimes that don't matter, and could aim for fixing social problems that cause people to commit crimes. For example,

by illumen 15y ago

Or, you could aim for less prosecutions of crimes that don't matter, and could aim for fixing social problems that cause people to commit crimes. For example, work towards reducing homelessness. Towards harm minimization policies for drug users. For example, do not allow media companies or other corporate companies to abuse criminal courts to collect civil debts. Work on fixing those problems, and then there will be less waste of the courts time.

anigbrowl 15y ago
Not to be a smartass, but isn't that what public defenders do? Remember, politicians pass budgets, make policy, and are ultimately the authors of laws. Prosecutors can advocate for the sort of policies you describe up to a point (our AG in California inclines this way, and her Republican opponent at the last election had a variety of reformist ideas too). But it's specialized work. If the DoJ assigns an attorney to prosecute cybercrime, there's not much s/he can do about the the drug war or reforming the copyright system. At the higher levels, prosecution is more of a political position - a district attorney, attorney general, or a US attorney does have a fair amount of flexibility and influence over policy. But there are relatively few of those jobs, and if you don't have one you don't have a great deal of freedom as a junior prosecutor to go off in a different direction. Even high level prosecutors are subject to a great deal of political pressure from legislators. The other thing to bear in mind is the cost. The private-sector legal industry can pay very well indeed. Wages in the public sector are pretty dismal by comparison. Federal judges are paid less (~$145k) than first-year associates at a big law firm (~$160k). The Chief Justice of the United States is paid about $220k. It's a terrible deal, and all the underlying budgets are badly underfunded as well. Not just pay; last time I looked the DoJ's 2012 budget for electronic discovery (document management systems) was only $20 million. Corporations often spend more on a single case. Most of the DoJ budget goes to law enforcement and prisons; attorneys get 6-7% and the court system gets about 3%. DoJ gets about $30 billion in total; to put that in context, DHS gets closer to $60 billion. In many ways, we get what we pay for.

by illumen 15y ago

anigbrowl 15y ago

Not to be a smartass, but isn't that what public defenders do? Remember, politicians pass budgets, make policy, and are ultimately the authors of laws. Prosecutors can advocate for the sort of policies you describe up to a point (our AG in California inclines this way, and her Republican opponent at the last election had a variety of reformist ideas too). But it's specialized work. If the DoJ assigns an attorney to prosecute cybercrime, there's not much s/he can do about the the drug war or reforming the copyright system. At the higher levels, prosecution is more of a political position - a district attorney, attorney general, or a US attorney does have a fair amount of flexibility and influence over policy. But there are relatively few of those jobs, and if you don't have one you don't have a great deal of freedom as a junior prosecutor to go off in a different direction. Even high level prosecutors are subject to a great deal of political pressure from legislators. The other thing to bear in mind is the cost. The private-sector legal industry can pay very well indeed. Wages in the public sector are pretty dismal by comparison. Federal judges are paid less (~$145k) than first-year associates at a big law firm (~$160k). The Chief Justice of the United States is paid about $220k. It's a terrible deal, and all the underlying budgets are badly underfunded as well. Not just pay; last time I looked the DoJ's 2012 budget for electronic discovery (document management systems) was only $20 million. Corporations often spend more on a single case. Most of the DoJ budget goes to law enforcement and prisons; attorneys get 6-7% and the court system gets about 3%. DoJ gets about $30 billion in total; to put that in context, DHS gets closer to $60 billion. In many ways, we get what we pay for.