This one seems easy enough. As recently observed, prosecutors have a lot to gain from pursuing high-profile cases, going for lots of charges even if some might not stick, and bullying people.
Problem: Prosecutors end up pursuing felony charges to advance their careers even when this is heavily counterindicated by the circumstances.
Solution: Make it a felony to do so.
What happens? Well, first off, the immediate outcome is that suddenly prosecutors can make a name for themselves by going after prosecutors who are acting badly. This creates a real disincentive to act badly like that.
Secondly, there is a more subtle outcome; if prosecutors were more likely to at least occasionally be the accused, they might be more interested in the question of when and whether the law is fair to the accused, or unfair to them.
Comments [archived]
From: Matt Hajicek
Date: 2013-01-31 09:29:58 -0600
How would you make something like that actually happen?