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"The vindictiveness of the state is perhaps best illustrated in its treatment of Woodfox’s co-defendant, Herman Wallace. When Wallace’s conviction was also over
by fossuser 11y ago
"The vindictiveness of the state is perhaps best illustrated in its treatment of Woodfox’s co-defendant, Herman Wallace. When Wallace’s conviction was also overturned on discrimination grounds in 2013, the judge in his case ordered his release, in view of the fact that Wallace was dying of liver cancer and had only days to live. Wallace was released on a Monday, and died on a Friday. He’d had three and a half days of freedom. Two days before he died, the prosecution reindicted him."
I don't understand why people would do this.
- bbcbasic 11y agoPerhaps there some kind of incentive such as bonus, promotion, political points for a high conviction rate? So they go for the low hanging fruit.
- a3voices 11y agoWell imagine having the mind of a typical prosecutor. I bet the thinking is something like "f* it, I'm not going to live forever, who can I prosecute next".
- mitchi 11y agoThis kind of abuse reminds me of Carmen Ortiz.
- rtpg 11y agoI'm more and more convinced that this is a cultural problem in the US. The idea of "serving out justice" seems to override any compassion for people. People always talk about throwing bankers in jail for the crisis, but why would you wish all this suffering on anyone? Denying freedom for someone for years. Especially considering the multitude of studies showing that extended incarceration _does not work as a deterrent_. We should be ashamed, a country with this sort of penal system cannot declare itself to be a bastion of civil rights.
- billforsternz 11y agoAgreed. Even the most liberal thinkers routinely call for people they don't approve of to be thrown in jail. I think it's important to challenge this type of thinking. Reserve jail for those times when there is no other way to protect innocents from violent offenders.
- robotresearcher 11y ago> Even the most liberal thinkers routinely call for people they don't approve of to be thrown in jail. Evidence or argument to support this? It seems false by definition.
- fineman 11y agoArgument. :) Tautologically, you're right. Liberal is people who wouldn't do this, therefore... But, of people who would self-identify as liberal how many are in fact closet authoritarians? Lots!
- billforsternz 11y agoI'm thinking of bloggers I subscribe to who are often characterised as Social Justice Warriors - people who are extremely liberal. Very often these people will call for Bush, Cheney et al. to be jailed for war crimes. They tend to want people perceived as financial beneficiaries of the "neo-liberal" orthodoxy (bankers etc.) to be jailed as white collar criminals too.
- eru 11y ago> [...] people who are extremely liberal. In the American definition of the word.
- billforsternz 11y agoYes, always a source of confusion.
- 11y ago
- sobinator 11y agoI don't understand it either. But perhaps (and this is probably a stretch) it is to serve as a deterrent to the other inmates. Given Angola's notorious reputation as, well, Angola, and the fact that these two allegedly murdered a prison guard--it isn't inconceivable that a vindictive move like this one was played by the state. The logic being, you kill one of our guards and we'll lock you up and throw away the key.
- wwweston 11y agoWell, there's your problem: you're assuming prosecutors are people. ;) That's a simplistic (if fun) jab, of course, but it's probably not an exaggeration to say that the system we have gives incentives for prosecutors to act rather inhumanely -- and tends to attract personalities who are driven by their own ambition or a faith in their own judgments when it comes to justice. There's a sense in which the prosecutor role we've created really isn't "people" in the same way businesses aren't "people."
- sharkweek 11y agoI have a close friend who is a county prosecutor who after over a decade on the job has changed immensely as a person. I don't blame him, as his intentions for taking the job were incredibly pure (real talk, he could have easily taken a private sector job for 3x the pay) but some of the shit, and I do mean shit, he has to put up with seems absolutely unbearable. He had to work child abuse cases for a little over 3 years, and to occasionally see some of the scummiest people on earth walk free for some of the most ridiculous things (technicalities, mishandled evidence, a rogue juror causing a mistrial putting the defendant back in contact with the kids, etc) will break the strongest of humans. Fortunately he got moved to misdemeanors per his request a few years back, seems to be doing a lot better. Not trying to say all prosecutors are great people, but it's a ridiculously tough job.
- fineman 11y agoIf only prosecutors would be jailed for double the term of anyone we could prove they were unreasonable persecuting. But unfortunately, they have literally zero consequences.
- l33tbro 11y agoI get the jokiness of your quip, but you're really quite out of your depth here. Can you please back up your bold statement that the system attracts personalities driven by their own ambition with some data or evidence? I'm intimate with a number of prosecutors (including my partner), and I've not once come across a prosecutor who possesses such attributes of character. It's quite the opposite actually - most turn away higher paying law firm jobs to do what they believe is community service. To me this injustice has occured on behalf of corrections facilities management. Very sad.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]