Reddit Founder Aaron Swartz found dead at 26 (OT)

"Obama hasn't even done anything about the laws we already have on the books, like the ones they got Swartz trapped in a corner with -- laws written so badly that anybody using a fricking handle on the net could be busted for wire fraud for 'giving a false identity.'

Aaron’s death is not simply a personal tragedy. It is the product of a criminal justice system rife with intimidation and prosecutorial overreach. Decisions made by officials in the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney’s office and at MIT contributed to his death. The US Attorney’s office pursued an exceptionally harsh array of charges, carrying potentially over 30 years in prison, to punish an alleged crime that had no victims. Meanwhile, unlike JSTOR, MIT refused to stand up for Aaron and its own community’s most cherished principles.

By stacking charges as high as possible and wielding the threat of mandatory sentencing laws, the argument goes, prosecutors intimidate defendants and make it all but impossible to turn down their offers.

5 percent of cases brought by American prosecutors every year lead to an actual jury trial, while the rest play out in plea bargains

“What we really have is a plea bargain system with a thin froth of showy trials floating on top,” - Glenn Reynolds