3 ms·
>And in fact, for this reason, the (current) government needs to get major kudos! From the article: 'The 15 postdoctoral students he worked with were transferr
by openknot 5y ago
>And in fact, for this reason, the (current) government needs to get major kudos!
From the article: 'The 15 postdoctoral students he worked with were transferred to other research groups, taking their knowledge with them. “We are all losers, right?” Dr. Chen said. “My reputation got ruined. My students, my post-docs, they changed their career. They changed to other groups. M.I.T., the country, the U.S., we lose. I can’t calculate the loss. That loss cannot be calculated.”'
It's a positive that the rule of law in the United States has been demonstrated to work in this case. But he could have easily accepted a plea deal earlier and have avoided the dismissed charges. He also lost his staff and may be stigmatized in the future for people who see that he was arrested by the FBI in his home, but don't read the full story behind the dismissal.
The dismissal of charges sounds like a bare minimum for a functional society, not an extraordinary response (and it should not be the norm to double down and press on with false charges). A fair response would be for him to be compensated so he's no worse off, and at least receive an official apology from the government.
- javajosh 5y agoI made my comment in light of my recent education about how the government actually functions, specifically its criminal justice system. On the spectrum of outcomes this is actually pretty good, considering the alternatives. Countless men are wrongfully convicted, spend their entire lives in prison, and are eventually exonerated. What do they get? They get released.
- openknot 5y agoI've read similarly from the Marshall Project's Innocence Project [0] about wrongful convictions, so I see more of where you're coming from. My view of justice, however, is that a government should treat its citizens fairly. Taking into account prior behavior of the government, this is extraordinary, but I personally differ in that praise should be reserved when a government acts fairly independent of prior performance. In this case, the government should officially apologize to neuter any stigmatization he might have had for his prior arrest, and help him catch up in his research projects, where he might now be struggling due to a loss of talent caused by the unjust arrest and accusations. [0] https://www.themarshallproject.org/records/473-innocence-project https://www.themarshallproject.org/records/473-innocence-pro...
- javajosh 5y agoI agree with you. In fact, I'd go further. If I had my way these kinds of misdeeds would result in sanctions against the prosecution, or the judge if involved. But our justice system is deeply protected from any accountability by layers and layers of both practical and legal moats. It is virtually impossible to sanction a judge[0]. It is difficult to even sanction an attorney. The key problem being no working attorney wants to take on either target, because it will ruin their relationships upon which they make a living. The entire system is "don't rock the boat" writ large. A state mints 20k new lawyers a year, and disbars maybe 4, and each of those disbarments are uphill battles. And literally no one cares about this. I absolutely hate the way the system is. But that is how the system is. 0. The only exception I've ever heard of was the recall of the judge in Brock Turner's rape case, and that only happened because of lightening-in-a-bottle once-a-century national attention. Judges have incredible power in the US, and virtually no oversight. Almost all judgeships are corruptly acquired by backroom finagling among lawyers trading favors with each other. Do you think they'll allow something stupid like malfeasance ruin the careful spending of political capital it took to install that judge? Hell no.