My latest ridiculous imaginary system for the US is completely independent, for-profit private prosecutors replacing AGs and DAs at all levels. In a privatized system, licensed independent prosecutorial offices bring people to court in exchange for bounties put up by the state. The state publishes the bounty for each crime or category of crimes ahead of time, with the monetary range defined in the statute and reviewed every year by the legislature. So bounties are per-infraction and don't target any specific crime or suspect. State AG still exists as an office of last resort, and can post additional bounties on behalf of the state. Independent offices have the same powers of investigation as the state, and are given equal access to official resources such as crime labs.

In addition to the state-sponsored bounties, anyone can pay for a prosecution the way people donate to legal defense funds today. For example a chain of drugstores getting burglarized would put up extra money to ensure the perp is quickly brought to trial. To avoid frivolous charges being brought against someone - where "the process is the punishment" - offices have to pay back all court costs plus a steep penalty if the defendant is successful, or wins an appeal against the judgement. Offices would not be permitted to take funding from outside their jurisdiction.

You might be asking how adding MORE bias and profit-motive can possibly limit abuse of the legal system.

1. The penalty above will deter any company and most activist charities limited to local donations from wanting to waste time and money charging someone unless they think conviction is a sure thing. In a state-run system that would be less of a deterrence since you're using tax dollars.

2. I do expect overzealous prosecution to skyrocket in the beginning, but you'll have it from all sides. People would be constantly hassled over minor offenses regardless of current year politics. Eventually it will annoy enough powerful people that they would demand stupid and tyrannical laws be changed or eliminated.

I'm sure there are tons of problems with this, but it's all just mental masturbation so feel free to imagine something better.

My latest ridiculous imaginary system for the US is completely independent, for-profit private prosecutors replacing AGs and DAs at all levels. In a privatized system, licensed independent prosecutorial offices bring people to court in exchange for bounties put up by the state. The state publishes the bounty for each crime or category of crimes ahead of time, with the monetary range defined in the statute and reviewed every year by the legislature. So bounties are per-infraction and don't target any specific crime or suspect. State AG still exists as an office of last resort, and can post additional bounties on behalf of the state. Independent offices have the same powers of investigation as the state, and are given equal access to official resources such as crime labs.

In addition to the state-sponsored bounties, anyone can pay for a prosecution the way people donate to legal defense funds today. For example a chain of drugstores getting burglarized would put up extra money to ensure the perp is quickly brought to trial. To avoid frivolous charges being brought against someone - where "the process is the punishment" - offices have to pay back all court costs plus a steep penalty if the defendant successfully wins an appeal against the judgement. Offices would not be permitted to take funding from outside their jurisdiction.

You might be asking how adding MORE bias and profit-motive can possibly limit abuse of the legal system.

1. The penalty above will deter any company and most activist charities limited to local donations from wanting to waste time and money charging someone unless they think conviction is a sure thing. In a state-run system that would be less of a deterrence since you're using tax dollars.

2. I do expect overzealous prosecution to skyrocket in the beginning, but you'll have it from all sides. People would be constantly hassled over minor offenses regardless of current year politics. Eventually it will annoy enough powerful people that they would demand stupid and tyrannical laws be changed or eliminated.

I'm sure there are tons of problems with this, but it's all just mental masturbation so feel free to imagine something better.

My latest ridiculous imaginary system for the US is completely independent, for-profit private prosecutors replacing AGs and DAs at all levels. In a privatized system, licensed independent prosecutorial offices bring people to court in exchange for bounties put up by the state. The state publishes the bounty for each crime or category of crimes ahead of time, with the monetary range defined in the statute and reviewed every year by the legislature. So bounties are per-infraction and don't target any specific crime or suspect. State AG still exists as an office of last resort, and can post additional bounties on behalf of the state. Independent offices have the same powers of investigation as the state, and are given equal access to official resources such as crime labs.

In addition to the state-sponsored bounties, anyone can pay for a prosecution the way people donate to legal defense funds today. For example a chain of drugstores getting burglarized would put up extra money to ensure the perp is quickly brought to trial. To avoid frivolous charges being brought against someone - where "the process is the punishment" - offices are fined and have to pay back all court costs if the defendant successfully wins an appeal against the judgement. Offices would not be permitted to take funding from outside their jurisdiction.

You might be asking how adding MORE bias and profit-motive can possibly limit abuse of the legal system.

1. The penalty above will deter any company and most activist charities limited to local donations from wanting to waste time and money charging someone unless they think conviction is a sure thing. In a state-run system that would be less of a deterrence since you're using tax dollars.

2. I do expect overzealous prosecution to skyrocket in the beginning, but you'll have it from all sides. People would be constantly hassled over minor offenses regardless of current year politics. Eventually it will annoy enough powerful people that they would demand stupid and tyrannical laws be changed or eliminated.

I'm sure there are tons of problems with this, but it's all just mental masturbation so feel free to imagine something better.