Thread by @DanielRAlonso

Thread responding to the always-thoughtful @RachelBarkow. The point about "People vs." not meaning the representative of all people is clearly right, though I think @j_simonson in @thenation makes too much of a clever political slogan by @KamalaHarris. /1

But her "definition of the role" of #prosecutors as "to seek punishment and inflict harm on a regular basis" is wrong & is dismissive of all the good work that prosecutors do. /2

bit.ly/2Tx6B5J

As you know, the @ABAesq defines the role of a prosecutor as follows: "[t]he primary duty of the prosecutor is to seek justice within the bounds of the law, not merely to convict." Any prosecutor worth his/her salt follows that precept. /3 bit.ly/2RCxEuF

We can of course disagree what "justice" means for a particular case or program area, but it is a disservice to dedicated public servants to characterize them in this way. /4

So, a #prosecutor's actual, long-established, role means that a good prosecutor forgoes charges or agrees to lenient treatment many (many) times in her career. In fact, prosecutors around the country, for years, have had entire programs of this sort. /5 bit.ly/AlternativetoI…

Again, we might disagree on particular programs and whether they go far enough, but people inside prosecutors' offices spend long days trying to do what they think is right. (that includes @KamalaHarris) /6

This sometimes means protecting a terrified witness, and it sometimes means deciding that entire categories of crime should no longer be prosecuted. Agree or disagree, but please don't dismiss thousands of good people with the stroke of a pen. /7

nytimes.com/2018/09/07/nyr…

Finally, I worry that terminology like that ("inflict harm") is used by some to define some #prosecutors & not others. For example, are those who prosecute domestic violence offenders "inflicting harm on a regular basis"? /8

What about sex crimes #prosecutors? Those who go after corporate fraud? Political corruption? Excessive force by police? Mueller? You get my point. /9

BTW, California is #35 in the U.S. in incarcerated people per 100,000. (And yes, as @j_simonson writes, "we can all agree that they are people" and deserve respect.) /10
prisonpolicy.org/global/2018.ht…