@neandermudgeon 1/x I’m glad you raise this point but unfortunately it’s not quite accurate for a number of reasons. The choice prosecutors face daily is not to apply the law or to ignore it, but rather how to exercise the enormous discretion the law gives them. Here’s one quick example:
@neandermudgeon 2/x Most prosecutors have a policy of stacking charges, pursuant to which they bring multiple charges for a single crime so as to maximize the potential sentence the defendant will face. In negotiating the inevitable plea the prosecutor will offer to drop some of the charges.
@neandermudgeon 3/x Did the law require the prosecutor to stack charges? No. But in exercising their discretion to stack charges the prosecutor is able to compel a punitive plea. And so the machine grinds on....
@neandermudgeon 4/4 I believe there’s a fairer and more humane way of running a criminal justice system that safeguards the community and respects the law without reflexively maximizing punishment to the nth degree.
