From: Karl Anderson (kra@monkey.org)
Date: Wed Aug 02 2000 - 14:52:41 PDT
Dave Long <dl@silcom.com> writes:
> all of which are interesting, but none of which addressed my main
> point: if everyone agrees on the facts of the case A, B, and there
> is a consensus in the society that a verdict ought to be a function
> of those facts alone, and not other information C or D...
I've been thinking about this, and I haven't been able to come up with
any case where this should be true. Not even the minor crimes like
shoplifting or traffic tickets.
Especially the minor crimes, in fact, since cops love to use those for
mild harassment of people they don't like - make them go to court to
get the case dismissed. Which sucks, but in fact there is that
autosentencing option here - don't go to court & pay the full fine, no
questions asked.
Since the cops are still making the arrests, you're turning them into
judges. And you'd also have to do away with appeal, or else you're
just deferring the human element.
-- Karl Anderson kra@monkey.org http://www.pobox.com/~kra/
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