I watched Criminal (In)justice episode #102, and although I chose it at random, I’m glad I did so, as I learned a lot about the justice system in America and issues relating to it. Specifically, the episode concerned prosecutors in criminal trials, and how they have too much power. The episode began with a discussion on how there exists a mandatory minimum sentence for most criminal trials. Because of this, judges in these trials do not have as much of a say on the duration of the sentence. Moreover, it is mentioned that nearly 90% of all criminal cases are determined via a plea bargain, so they never even reach court. These two occurrences give the prosecutors in these cases lots of power, and they often abuse it. Prosecutors can tamper with and not disclose all the evidence in a trial (also known as a Brady violation), and because it is hard to bring about ethical charges against them, they often get away with it.
In my opinion, there needs to be some sort of policy reform that limits the power of prosecutors and allows for more justice in the court system. I think one way that this can be accomplished is through the limiting of plea bargains, as they can undermine the court system, which is meant to give fair and equal protection to its citizens, as a whole.
In my opinion, there needs to be some sort of policy reform that limits the power of prosecutors and allows for more justice in the court system. I think one way that this can be accomplished is through the limiting of plea bargains, as they can undermine the court system, which is meant to give fair and equal protection to its citizens, as a whole.
2 comments:
I agree with you in that the prosecutors in our current judicial system have to much power and they should be given more restrictions on what they can and cannot do. I believe the prosecutors that commit the Brady violation should be themselves judged or have their licenses revoked as what they do can determine whether someone can go the jail for life or even killed. They could be sending innocent people to jail forever leaving them with this scarlet letter when they leave prison preventing them from getting many job opportunities. Something must be done about this
Prosecutors have certainly been given too much power by the criminal justice system. The advent of plea bargains has allowed prosecutors to intimidate suspects into giving false confessions, and this is unquestionably unethical. However, in the current legal ecosystem this power is necessary, for it prevents many cases from going trial and swamping the court system. Plea bargains cannot simply be limited or done away with, for the courts will be drowning in cases. If we want to resolve this unfair system, it will first be necessary to limit the number of people who go to prison, whether this be via better education or the decriminalization of minor drug offenses. If we truly want to secure the rights of United States citizens then massive criminal justice reform is the only even remotely feasible way to accomplish this.
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