Welcome to Discussion #10: Please remember that all initial responses are due by Friday and two peer responses are due by Sunday at midnight EST or EDT.

After reading chapter 9 address the following discussion question/situation:

Discuss the legality/ethics of one of the following actions of a prosecutor:

1. Announcing a suspect in a drive-by shooting to the media so the offender was in danger from rival gang members, and then offering protective custody only if the man would plead guilty.
2. Discussing the sentencing on a case with a judge in their office without the defendant or his/her attorney being present.
3. Authorizing the arrest of a 10-year-old boy who confessed to a crime, even though there was no serious possibility that he was guilty, to pressure a relative to confess.
4. Authorizing the arrest of one brother for drugs, even though the prosecutor knew the charge would be thrown out (but the young man would lose a scholarship to college), to have leverage so that he would give evidence against his brother. Your peer responses should be substantive and clear. Be sure to address their responses and your agreement or disagreement and why.

peer #1 (monica) There are serious ethical and legal issues with a prosecutor allowing the arrest of a sibling for drug possession when they knew the case would be dismissed in order to pressure him into testifying against his brother. From a legal perspective, filing for an arrest without a warrant or enough evidence may be considered misconduct by the prosecutor and a violation of the arrested person's constitutional rights. Such behavior is unethical since it takes advantage of the vulnerable person who has been arrested and manipulates the legal system for personal gain. It also goes against the concepts of justice and fairness. In addition, it creates a risky area where prosecutors could misuse their authority to force cooperation regardless of the truth or significance of the information they have collected. Such actions put the search of convictions above maintaining the integrity of the legal system and protecting the rights of all parties related. If discovered, the prosecutor may face severe consequences, such as possible disciplinary action or legal responsibility.

peer#2 (caleb)Drive-by shootings are very serious cases to prosecute, and the situation in the first prompt in the discussion board is no different. However, looming over this specific case is the unethical actions of the prosecutor. Announcing the suspect of the shooting to the media is a debatable action in and of itself since the man had not been convicted of any crime. This could result in a myriad of problems if the suspect ended up being innocent but the majority of the public perceived him to be guilty, resulting in defamation. However, the prosecutor in the case took his immoral actions one step further by bribing him to plead guilty if given protective custody. This action is completely immoral. If the prosecutor had not announced the defendant's name to the world in the first place he would not need protective custody, and if he knew the man would be targeted by rival gangs if his information got out then the prosecutor should have just kept all the information that the case involved private in order to prevent any harmful situations from occurring. These actions would take away that rights of the defendant to due process and equal protection under the law by using illegal means to make him confess to something he never did and by exposing him to potential harm in the process.