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Comment by toyg | Hacker News Reader

Yeah, because the world is like a Batman comic, right?

When "good guys" screw up, they must take the same responsibility they ask of "bad guys". When "good guys" resort to bully or torture weaker opponents, they are as bad as anyone.

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Well my point was simply here is someone with a good reputation. Perhaps it's worth understanding exactly what took place crying for revenge.

I definitely agree with that notion. I think the problem we're facing is that the general public at this time knows most of what was going on. She's had a good reputation to this point. But she finally picked the wrong person to make an example of. Prosecutorial overreach is a funny thing. In that, her career may have been built on it. If the number of previous people we're actually bad people, the same tactics would of been far more accepted. Since this was a clear abuse of her power, even if it's something prosecutors generally get away with. The idea of making an example out of her seems vengeful and almost hypocritical. But it's not without its grounds.

Here's a good article on HuffPo, exactly about the ongoing practice - and its incentives - of prosecutorial overreach:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/16/the-power-of-the-pr...

The whole system is flawed; it rewards high-profile convictions, instead of justice. Wrong success metrics -> wrong job description -> wrong outcome.

So, I have a lot of sympathy for those grieving Swartz's death AND fanning their natural anger to vengeance. They are not at odds. That's why I signed both petitions, and really hoping to see them coming through.

Of course none of this will get her (nor Steve "Is he suicidal? Let's lock him down; the jail is safe" Heymann) fired, but hopefully it'll spark the debate within Obama's administration about the (appropriate) role of prosecutors in this country.

Yeah, call me optimistic.

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