3 ms·

That is a well-spoken and sympathetic plaintiff. But the HN title is really misleading. This is only about a private criminal action by a private citizen. The

• _8j50 3y ago
  TIL: Irish private citizens can file criminal suits. i wish the US had that. The FBI only cares about big fish and does not mess with corporations that help it with other high value investigations (e.g.: don't mess with ISPs that let them spy on possible terrorists, even if they are breaking a lot of laws).
  • dmurray 3y ago
    > TIL: Irish private citizens can file criminal suits. i wish the US had that. They cannot. Making a complaint is just reporting an alleged crime. This is exactly the same process as if your house was burgled and you can identify the burglars. It would normally be confidential, but in this case it was made by a "privacy activist" who publicised it himself. The Gardai and the DPP (prosecutor) make the decision to prosecute or not. If (when) they decide to drop the case, the activist can follow up to get a statement in writing about why the DPP determined it wasn't worth a criminal prosecution. That's all he's likely hoping to get out of this. The US, on the other hand, does have private criminal prosecutions in many jurisdictions, but they aren't very common or effective.
    • Obscurity4340 3y ago
      Kaplan v DA lol
    • _8j50 3y ago
      Thanks for clearing that up. It's very unfair when prosecutors refuse to prosecute and you are the victim. The burden of justice is transfered then to the victim to run a campaign against the DA and at best he loses an election, the original wrong is still not righted! It should fall upon a jury or grand jury to reject an indictment. Short of that, the victim must be allowed to present evidence of a crime before a judge, where the prosecutor has refused to prosecure. if there is merit the why shouldn't there be a prosecution? At least for crimes where there is an actual victim. This idea that financial compensation is enough is ludicrous.
  • meepmorp 3y ago
    Some US states do allow private criminal prosecution. New Jersey allows them with approval of a judge and prosecutor. Other states allow private citizens to file charges directly with a magistrate - I think maybe Wyoming or Montana? It's usually a holdover from English common law.
• clnq 3y ago
  Won’t they have to investigate once a complaint like this is filed? It seems like the activist is trying to get more attention to this to hurry the investigation?
  • bawolff 3y ago
    Isn't it the opposite? Usually private prosecution prevents gov filing charges due to double jeopardy concerns.
    • andylynch 3y ago
      Not Irish or a lawyer but I would expect their DPP to have very similar powers to their English friends allowing takeover of private prosecutions. With the caveat that Irish private prosecutions are a much less well-trodden path. Edit- not that it matters here, since it’s a regular criminal complaint to the garda and not a private prosecutions at all.
• Obscurity4340 3y ago
  A lot of private criminal "cases" are not popular and tend to be limited to upper class folks playing tiddlywinks with the criminal justice system to screw with their "offenders" (those who offend them or are strategically inconvenient). I don't see why they need to distinguish since they are both technically prosecutions and it seems to be the only way to go after evils and bullshit that every government is allowing to stand no matter how depraved or illegal it is
• dang 3y ago
  Ok, we've changed the title to use some language from the article body instead. Thanks!