After the supreme court overturned Roe v Wade last year, district attorneys from major counties in Texas vowed not to vigorously prosecute people under the state’s anti-abortion laws.
Now, Texas has a plan to punish them if they don’t fall in line.
On Friday, Texas will enact Senate Bill 20, a law that forbids prosecutors from adopting a “policy” of refusing to prosecute particular types of crimes, such as abortion cases. Under the new law, these policies constitute “official misconduct” and could lead to prosecutors being removed from office.
This kind of legislation flies in the face of prosecutors’ normal ability to choose whether and how to pursue cases, said Miriam Krinsky, executive director of Fair and Just Prosecution, an organization that works to support local prosecutors. Krinsky called the new law “scare tactics”.
Yeah, prosecutorial and police discretion on what to arrest and prosecute is actually the very source of much discrimination. Making it so all crimes must be prosecuted is actually a good thing I think, because it would eliminate that discrimination where some people slide while others are harshly punished.
Having so many laws that you cannot follow them all, but it’s not a problem because they’re not enforced is a problem! It means that the government can come after anyone at any time. Forcing all breaches of law to be prosecuted to the full extent without being able to set priorities would thus require the removal of many laws, which would be good.