Morosoph's Journal: Justice requires good-faith prosecution

Go now to orthogonal's journal (which is what led me to writing this journal entry), and then, for something lighter, to jondiii's.

Malicious prosecution by the authorities is a major political problem. This kind of event should ring alarm bells, and should really require a review process to monitor it. You cannot rely upon juries to do the right thing; they trust that the prosecution is giving their version of events, and are not just saying whatever they need to say to secure a conviction.

When the government is doing this kind of thing, can we really trust that it's not distorting science to its ends?

Prosecution in bad faith undermines the integrity and authority of government, and usurps the feedback loop that allows us to improve government based upon the data that we have. Bad faith prosecution is in fact a deeply subversive act.

Update: I ought to give the link to Dr. Thomas Lehman's account of Dr. Butler's trial that orthogonal gives in his journal. Justice is more important than perfect politeness.