Hacker News Reader

I’ve read a competing theory of Japan which says prosecutors are so over-worked they only go through with cases they know they’ll win. I wonder how one would decide?

In the UK, the CPS only prosecute cases with “a reasonable chance of conviction”, which I guess means they essentially choose the conviction rate they’re aiming for?

View on HN

That sounds like the same bullshit line that the FISA courts give their 99%+ approval rating for domestic surveillance warrants.

We saw how that works in practice recently with that FBI report where the judges were basically yes men trusting everything the FBI told them without even basic scrutiny...

The Japanese system is more on the input end regarding due process and rights to counsel.

I think it’s impossible to decide which of two criminal justice systems is “better” knowing only the conviction rate of both. Asking people to do this or placing them in a position where they are likely to is asking them to commit to finding flawed reasoning to support their own biases — and probably has an enhancing effect on those biases.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com