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Comment by monocasa | Hacker News Reader

Yes the police are in the wrong for torturing him. If the thief says nothing and the police find the car with a dead child inside he gets murder charges added to his grand theft auto charges. This is already the established law when a death occurs during the commission of a felony. It's why get away drivers for a bank robbery can be charged as well with the murders that happened at others' hands inside the bank.

You attack the problem with the rule of law, not unleashing your justice system from the reins of lawful behavior whenever they internally deem it convenient.

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...says somebody without children?

Literally our entire justice system is built on the idea that the only ethical option is that victims and families of victims don't decide the flow of our justice process, and in fact require anyone who is too close to the victims to recuse themselves.

Turning it around, how would you like if the police tortured your child in a case of mistaken identity? Looking at the members of my high school class who became cops, they weren't exactly known for being the brightest bulbs in the box, but always acted with confidence despite that.

> Literally our entire justice system is built on the idea that the only ethical option is that victims and families of victims don't decide the flow of our justice process

No, it's not, and the divergence between reality and this description is increasing, essentially monotonically, over time, with legal incorporation of “victim’s rights” into the criminal justice process.

That's not to say it shouldn't be as you describe, just that it isn't.

Victims rights stop at the boundaries of the rights of the accused. They boil down to being explicitly notified of changes of public information like court dates and release dates, the ability to be present for public proceedings, and reaffirming their protection from the accused WRT instruments like restraining orders.

https://www.justice.gov/usao/resources/crime-victims-rights-...

They don't extend to the decision making process for others' investigations and prosecutions.

Idiotic point

No, actually the entire point. Feeling specially protective of children is built into parents. Non-parents may not feel the same way. Its obvious really.

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