Six
I live in a small county, and I evaluated the other attorneys in the area and reluctantly determined that I was the best equipped to serve the public interest.
100+ misdemeanors
That my goal is to get a conviction. In Texas, a prosecutor is ethically required to seek justice, not a conviction.
Less than 5 percent
Less than 5 percent (there are only 20 beds at the county jail to house misdemeanor convictions).
Less than 1 percent (it is unrealistic to assume that it has never happened).
Five
This country has a family violence problem, and most states classify a first-time, non-hospital-inducing offense as misdemeanor, which feeds into the public perception that it is not a big deal. I would elevate any offensive contact that causes visible bodily injury to a state jail felony. It needs to be viewed with same social stigma as perpetrators of sexual assault or child abuse.
The rules are so thoroughly stacked in the defendant's favor in this country. The overwhelming majority of acquitted defendants, despite being found not guilty by a jury, actually committed the acts for which they were charged. Based on my post-trial conversations with jurors, the reasonable-doubt standard appears to have been elevated to an absolute-certainty level of proof in the minds of many jurors.
Yes, but not in its present form. Its only value is as a public deterrent. However, when executions are conducted behind relatively closed doors, as presently done in Texas, they have only limited value as a deterrent. A life in prison is a much greater punishment in my mind.
... based upon the financial motives of the legislature. Concepts such as "deterrence" or "punishment" or "rehabilitation" are secondary to budgetary pressures.
The specific knowledge of how humanity is capable of treating one another.
I would be a civil lawyer.
Answers have been edited for length and clarity.
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