🧵 Someone recently said to me they would have guessed that I was previously a public defender, rather than a prosecutor. I had some other commenters this week suggest that I just don’t want to see crime punished.
So I thought it might help to elaborate on my background.
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So I thought it might help to elaborate on my background.
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I spent nearly a decade as a federal prosecutor, fighting crime in my community at a small fraction of the pay I could have made in private practice.
People sit in prison, including on federal death row, this very minute because of my prior work as a prosecutor.
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People sit in prison, including on federal death row, this very minute because of my prior work as a prosecutor.
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You can lecture me about not caring about crime victims after you’ve prosecuted a capital murder case.
You can tell me I’m soft on crime after you’ve put child pornographers, bank robbers, drug dealers, tax cheats, embezzlers, fraudsters, & ponzi-schemers in prison.
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You can tell me I’m soft on crime after you’ve put child pornographers, bank robbers, drug dealers, tax cheats, embezzlers, fraudsters, & ponzi-schemers in prison.
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I take a back seat to no one in my commitment to justice for crime victims.
But I’m equally committed to justice for those accused of crimes.
Punishing those who break the law doesn’t have to be inconsistent with also doing justice to those accused of crimes.
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But I’m equally committed to justice for those accused of crimes.
Punishing those who break the law doesn’t have to be inconsistent with also doing justice to those accused of crimes.
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But too often it is.
Too many prosecutors have lost their moral compass and believe that enforcing the law is the same thing as doing justice. It’s not.
The criminal justice system in America is deeply unjust. I want my fellow citizens to understand why and how that’s so.
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Too many prosecutors have lost their moral compass and believe that enforcing the law is the same thing as doing justice. It’s not.
The criminal justice system in America is deeply unjust. I want my fellow citizens to understand why and how that’s so.
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I want people to understand that our system preys on the poor. I want people to know that our system, even today, intentionally discriminates on the basis of race. I want others to appreciate how the system denies people due process, which generates false convictions.
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I want people to realize that sending someone to prison means putting them in a situation where they will all too likely be raped. And nobody cares.
*And* I want folks to know what an abysmal job our system does at both solving and preventing crimes.
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*And* I want folks to know what an abysmal job our system does at both solving and preventing crimes.
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Our criminal justice system isn’t just. It’s not just for crime victims. It’s not just for the criminally accused. And I want to see that change. All of it.
I want us to do better. Because we can do better.
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I want us to do better. Because we can do better.
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We must do more justly. The Bible tells me so.
/end
/end
P.S. You can hear more of my thoughts here:
https://twitter.com/jenoshman/status/1484511048153669634
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