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"I can't make myself blame the prosecutors involved when most federal prosecutors are similarly heavy-handed (and, quite possibly, were acting within a reasonab
by danenania 14y ago
"I can't make myself blame the prosecutors involved when most federal prosecutors are similarly heavy-handed (and, quite possibly, were acting within a reasonable interpretation of the the law)."
A person who works to enforce immoral laws or immoral sentences is an immoral person and should be treated as such. We need direct accountability at every level, otherwise the buck is passed around in a circle indefinitely.
- willyt 14y agoTo reinforce your point, following the herd is not an excuse. To take the most extreme example of this. The Germans have a word, Schreibtischtäter, which roughly means 'desk based murderer'. It was coined during the period when former NAZI officials were being tried for their part in the holocaust. As I understand it, it was used not only for people who literally signed death warrants, but also for people who did things like arranging the logistics of transporting people to the death camps. The relevance of this being that the wide scale systematic nature of the atrocity could only work if all these secondary people were complicit in it. The wide scale systematic corruption of justice that is plea bargaining only happens because most prosecutors are complicit. While it is not genocide, it is, in effect, denying a lot of people the right to a fair trial, which is one of the founding principals of any modern society.