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The takeaway mistake would be to propose technical or legal solutions that would "prevent" something like this from happening again, like adding hoops to jump t
by rm_-rf_slash 11y ago
The takeaway mistake would be to propose technical or legal solutions that would "prevent" something like this from happening again, like adding hoops to jump through or harsh penalizations that could chill legitimate prosecution elsewhere for fear of community retaliation. We have to reexamine our culture of vindictive punishment, winning as an absolute virtue, and the health of the community as a whole. Changing culture is hard, but it's the only aspect where things have lasting change.
- sbarre 11y agoSo what would be a practical solution here? This seems like a case of "unchecked power" to me. I am baffled how this prosecutor does not get reprimanded or dismissed given the seemingly obvious evidence that she intentionally did the wrong thing here. The damage that her choices did to this man's life are shocking and inexcusable, and this kind of behaviour should be terrifying to everyone, law-abiding tax-paying citizens included.. I get that in the end, "the system worked" and his conviction was vacated, but meanwhile this poor man sits in jail, for years? That's horrible.
- spacecowboy_lon 11y agoHave a fully professional Judiciary and legal system with No Elections what so ever - which removes most of the perverse incentives to get convictions.
- forgingahead 11y agoSimple, arrest and charge the girl for making false accusations, with a minimum of 20 years in prison. Raise a legal fund and sue the hell out of the city, naming the prosecutor as chief in a conspiracy of abuse of power and corruption, also with a minimum of 20 years in prison. This is nothing but corruption and pure evil, and unless you stamp it out, another poor fellow like this one (who was only interested in being a good citizen to a potentially vulnerable girl; remember Hannah Graham), will get his life destroyed by similarly evil people.
- rm_-rf_slash 11y agoI agree fully. We should use existing laws and the powerful force of social shame to right this wrong. I just wanted to make clear my point that it is always easier to pass a reactionary law to feel better about making a past mistake than to take the time to examine what kinds of bugs the new features introduce.
- bryanlarsen 11y agoProsecutors are immune from civil suits under a doctrine called "absolute immunity" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolute_immunity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolute_immunity
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- LanceH 11y agoFunny how lawyers are protected from lawyers.
- icebraining 11y agoProsecutors, not any lawyer.
- ris 11y agoSo, even a prosecutor that knowingly gets a defendant wrongly convicted and put to death still has total immunity? Because that's borderline murder in my eyes. (Well to me, all capital punishment is, but let's not open that one)
- gadders 11y agoThis is Public Choice Theory in action. The prosecutor's priority is not to make her "area" safer by correctly convicting prisoners. Her priority (like all politicians) is re-election. I have to say though if I was the prosecutor in this case I wouldn't be able to sleep at night.