Author Topic: Defund Prosecutors  (Read 855 times)

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Offline MakeItRain

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Defund Prosecutors
« on: July 09, 2020, 12:39:17 AM »
I've been on this one for years, DAs offices have much more power in the criminal justice system than cops do, and have ruined far more innocent lives by being biased, lazy, incompetent, agenda driven, headline craving, stat driven, etc. They don't face even the smallest bit of scrutiny. If there weren't rampant issues with DAs essentially everywhere they could function as a check and balance in the law and order universe, but they are not. The criminal justice system has become nothing more than an extremely effective path to prison for citizens of this country.

This was on the nightly news tonight, discussing a study of bias in jury selections. This little nugget was in the piece. It was from a UC Berkeley study done of cases in California from 2006-2018

Appeals of non-death-penalty verdicts involving peremptory strikes
Prosecutors struck Black jurors in 72% of the cases studied, while striking white jurors in 0.5% of the cases. Yes, the decimal point is in the correct place.
https://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/new-study-highlights-issues-of-systemic-bias-in-jury-selection-87232581649
It's a shame the focus is on the cops, the prosecutors are the real problem with the criminal justice system.


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Offline sonofdaxjones

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Re: Defund Prosecutors
« Reply #1 on: July 09, 2020, 06:30:26 AM »
. . . and politicians like Joe Biden. 

Offline Spracne

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Re: Defund Prosecutors
« Reply #2 on: July 09, 2020, 03:22:15 PM »
It's a tough nut to crack. I have no love for prosecutors, particularly state and local ones that are basically elected politicians but with extra powers.

The Batson decision (re: peremptory strikes) certainly has been denuded over the years. All it takes is the ability to articulate any possible explanation other than race, no matter how (seemingly) pretextual it is. "I saw him smirk when I mentioned that my client was a police officer, therefore I believe juror # X is biased against police officers." "Ok, juror # X is dismissed".

I'm not sure how you fix the rule, though, without all kinds of other unintended consequences.

Agreed that many DAs have unfairly ruined many lives. I think we need sentencing reform first and foremost, and that will remove much of the discretion prosecutors have at their disposal to abuse. I have no real desire to jail anyone unless they pose an imminent physical threat to the public. The compounding damage that is done to individuals, families, and communities as a result of rampant incarceration is unimaginable.

Offline sonofdaxjones

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Re: Defund Prosecutors
« Reply #3 on: July 09, 2020, 05:23:40 PM »
Sentencing reform:  Unraveling what Joe Biden played a huge hand in creating- Check