Not claiming that we shouldn't do more work here but the Miranda warning changes are in tandem with other improvements here.
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/crime/in-king-coun...
If anything, King County's judicial system doesn't need this kind of help, yet I saw the high budget of the police force when I lived there a block away from the station with its top-of-the-line equipment, education programs, and community involvement. We should be trying to bring this kind of judicial reform and fairness to areas that really need like it like the south-side of Chicago, where there are at least two murders a day.
EDIT: grammars
Are we certain that any metrics communicate anything meaningful about "successful" performance in the realm of prosecution?
"If they actually cared about X, they'd Y!"
I think what you mean to say is: "If they really cared about X, and only X, and had no political/financial/strategic impediments, they'd do Y! Therefore they clearly don't care about X."
Let's not have the perfect be the enemy of the good. This is a good thing, let's encourage more of it, yeah?
That's their job.
* Legislators create the law. (legislative branch)
* Prosecutors sue for enforcement of the law. (executive branch)
* Judgement to use JUDGEment in applying the law. (judical branch)
If you have sucky laws or indescriminate judges, fix those. Don't cast dispersions on prosecutors for prosecuting laws they didn't write, for sentences they don't make.
Not maintaining the balance of powers is how you wind up with out-of-whack and mismanaged governments.
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EDIT: Prosecutors are the inverse of defense attornies. Why is the DA defending this scumbag of a human being?!?! Because that's their job: provide the best possible defense for accused criminals. Likewise, prosecutors provide the best possible prosecution. Denegrating either one for their role is misunderstanding their functions in the judical system.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2017/09/25/...
There's absolutely no social good coming out of such behavior, and it should be pointed out and castigated.
And yes, this does, in fact, happen, because prosecutors are effectively rewarded for successful prosecutions, regardless of the false positive rate.
Curious: By that token, how do you feel about DA's trying to win cases on legal technicalities. Are they living up to the expectations of their job?
There are also pragmatic issues; prosecutorial accountability matters even in adversarial systems (accountability not in the sense of dealing with prosecutorial misconduct, but to ensure that prosecutors act consistently and in the public interest). Prosecutors aren't or shouldn't be free agents.
And be clear that was never the case. Prosecutorial discretion is and has almost always been the case.
I could just as easily claim that attorneys in the US are supposed to be about upholding the spirit, as much as the letter, of the law.
That said, if we're focusing on the most effective change like downandout, we should be changing the orders, not expecting each person to each adjust them, hopefully in appropriate ways.
It is idealistic to think you can make perfect laws that are easily understood by anyone such that training isn't necessary.
Or to be more exact it's very hard for a DA to be elected when they appear to be lenient on crime.
The prosecution and the policing parts of the criminal justice system can quite easily be influenced through the popular vote.
Where do you think judges come from? A judge who doesn't believe all the bullshit that prosecutors believe, is a rare judge indeed.
Their job is to see justice for the harm to society which is not benefited by sending innocent people to prison.
Give it a few more years...
Other good things: if police don't think they can make a good enough case, it will free them up to focus on more serious crimes. Youth won't be placed in the same holding cell as rapists, murderers etc. Less public resources spent on keeping people in jail.
I've seen on more than a few applications in the last couple years, the question has changed to "have you ever been arrested for or convicted of any felonies or misdemeanors?"
Scary stuff. Once you've been booked, you might as well be guilty.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/crime/2015/0...
A truly healthy system would not allow an overzealous DA to get far.
Prosecutors have the ability to not file cases at all. They also have the ability to offer diversion programs, wherein accused criminals can voluntarily agree to community-based sanctions/supervision in exchange for their cases not being filed. These do exist in some jurisdictions today, but tend to be offered to a very small percentage of defendants.
In short: if they really cared about ruining lives, they’d stop trying so hard to ruin lives (in all but the most serious cases). Changing the Miranda warning may be a very small step forward, but getting prosecutors on board is the only way to make a real difference.