Comment by strictnein
16 days ago
> In the UK the vast majority of prosecutions are made by the Crown Prosecution Service. The CPS are civil servants and, unlike in the US where they elect the guy emptying the trash, the crossing guards and the receptionist, these are just career lawyers.
Where did you get the idea that what you're saying is accurate about the US?
In the US most prosecutors are not elected, they are also civil servants and career lawyers. Their boss, a County or State Attorney, typically is elected, but they rarely prosecute cases.
I've also never elected a garbage man, crossing guard, or a receptionist in my life, but I've only been voting for almost 30 years now. Maybe it'll come up soon.
The "guy emptying the trash" and so on were hyperbole. Perhaps I should have made that clearer. Americans elect far too many of these roles and that's a problem but it is true that, so far at least, they do not elect the people who empty their trash.
The ultimate boss at the CPS is just a lawyer, his boss is the Attorney General for England and Wales and the Attorney General (although also usually a lawyer) is a politician, typically an elected politician. But that's quite a lot more distance between your criminal case and somebody trying to get re-elected.
> The ultimate boss at the CPS is just a lawyer, his boss is the Attorney General for England and Wales and the Attorney General (although also usually a lawyer) is a politician, typically an elected politician
Sounds exactly like how things work with Attorney Generals for the states and the feds, as well as with many county attorneys in the US, especially the larger ones.
The large, large majority of cases in the US are prosecuted by career lawyers, not elected officials.
> Americans elect far too many of these roles
This varies a lot by state, btw.
> Sounds exactly like how things work with Attorney Generals for the states and the feds, as well as with many county attorneys in the US
Sure, in the same way that Australia is exactly like Greenland.
Even in relatively populous New York the org chart distance between your criminal prosecutor and an elected politician is significantly smaller than in England. Somewhere smaller there's an excellent chance that an elected politician has direct influence over the choice to prosecute you and that's unavoidably corrupting.
Is it as bad as the mistake of leaving the Pardon Power with an elected politician? No. That was unconscionable back when the the "First Black President" was a white guy named Bill and he used it to pardon crooked friends and family, and of course it's still unconscionable today when people just straight up pay Donald to get out of jail. But elected prosecutors is still pretty bad.
> This varies a lot by state, btw.
Almost everything does. On a good day that's an opportunity to learn what works and all improve. But those good days are fewer and further between than ever.