What do you do?

[Helo]

Immagine yourself in a prosecutor's shoes for a moment. You get a case of a woman accused of using the fact that she was raped to scam dozens of couples who wanted to adopt the baby.

When she's arrested, she has already given birth and police are un-able to locate the new-born baby.

She offers you a deal, if you let her off of a 20 year sentence, she'll tell you where the baby is.

She could have done any number of things with the baby up to and including killing it and selling it. She could have placed the baby into foster care or left it with a friend, but shes amoral (Knows about rules and morales but doesnt think they apply to her) and isnt above doing something illegal or harmful to the child.

But..if you let her off the hook, she'll probably slip away and disapear to annother state and start her scams all over again but atleast the baby will be safe.

So what do you do, let her go or lock her up?

 

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Immagine yourself in a prosecutor's shoes for a moment. You get a case of a woman accused of using the fact that she was raped to scam dozens of couples who wanted to adopt the baby.

When she's arrested, she has already given birth and police are un-able to locate the new-born baby.

She offers you a deal, if you let her off of a 20 year sentence, she'll tell you where the baby is.

She could have done any number of things with the baby up to and including killing it and selling it. She could have placed the baby into foster care or left it with a friend, but shes amoral (Knows about rules and morales but doesnt think they apply to her) and isnt above doing something illegal or harmful to the child.

But..if you let her off the hook, she'll probably slip away and disapear to annother state and start her scams all over again but atleast the baby will be safe.

So what do you do, let her go or lock her up?

I think if I were in the position of prosecuting such a person, I would tell her no deal, and ask for the maximum sentence, knowing that her attorney would seek to make some kind of bargain in order to spare her a life of imprisonment. After a few days of worrying that you're going to be behind bars for most of the rest of your life, you begin to look at other options. When she was ready to deal, then I'd offer her a lesser sentence if she could produce information that showed me where the child was.

The reason I'd take this route is simply because of the personality that you described to me. If she is as heartless as you paint her out to be, then she has probably sold the baby to somebody else. If she were the type to harm the baby, she'd not have attempted to gain money for it in the first place. She'd just have planned to harm it all along. If she was indeed the type to harm a child, then the child would likely not be living, so bargaining for the baby would be a waste of time.

The baby should be the most important part of the equation, but one has to use common sense when dealing with a manipulative person. You don't just give somebody what they want. You first let them know that you're not up for being toyed with, and then 2nd you let them know that the rules apply to them, even if they stir them around in such a way that makes the scenario seem hopeless.... if you get my meaning.

The turnip truck just drove by, and thankfully I was not on it, waiting to be rolled off.

 

[knightlight72]

Good response Adiya.
I remember a similar ethics question on what someone would do if their family was being held under the threat of being killed, so that you;d be forced to do something. Example, your young child is threatened with being killed in front of you if you don't lay down, and allow yourself to be tied up.

Generally, if the person is willing to kill your child, why would you trust them that they won't kill your child anyway.

It comes down to that the person is that evil to make such a decision, that any deals are essentially useless.

 

[Moros]

I'd take her to trial and reject her plea bargain, which sounds like another scam.

I'd use the fact that she did not voluntarily disclose the whereabouts of the missing baby against her to ensure a harsher sentence.

 

[Spinrad]

Immagine yourself in a prosecutor's shoes for a moment. You get a case of a woman accused of using the fact that she was raped to scam dozens of couples who wanted to adopt the baby.

When she's arrested, she has already given birth and police are un-able to locate the new-born baby.

She offers you a deal, if you let her off of a 20 year sentence, she'll tell you where the baby is.

She could have done any number of things with the baby up to and including killing it and selling it. She could have placed the baby into foster care or left it with a friend, but shes amoral (Knows about rules and morales but doesnt think they apply to her) and isnt above doing something illegal or harmful to the child.

But..if you let her off the hook, she'll probably slip away and disapear to annother state and start her scams all over again but atleast the baby will be safe.

So what do you do, let her go or lock her up?

Good Cop Bad Cop. They do it for a reason. Obviously if we had her on enough evidence for a probable conviction then we would be in the God position. No way she goes free. What is the maximum penalty for fraud? You say 20 years, but is that so? And how many counts is she looking at? In how many jurisdictions? I would maybe let her deal down to ten. Now, if she sold the baby it might be worth dealing that low as we could get a convection on the purchasers and the middlemen. If I felt she had killed the child, no deals period. So really it's a complex question.

 

[Helo]

But you had no evidence that she'd killed the child or sold it and she refuses to tell you what she did with it unless you cut her loose.

All of the crimes shes accused of add up to 20 or so years in prison

 

[tocis]

So what do you do, let her go or lock her up?

I'm tempted to let her go but place the kid in foster care. *shrugs*

 

[Yusuf Evans]

Sounds like an episode of Law and Order SVU I saw a few weeks back.

 

[Helo]

It actually is from SVU. I love that show. Ideally I would like to do that for a career

 

[DieHappy]

I'd have her sterilized.

 

[Jacob4Jesus]

I would probably wake up and be relieved I was only dreaming about being a lawyer.

 

[Abbadon]

Tell her to show the baby, and have her declared insane and locked up in an institution (hey, it's not prison, but it'll do), and put the kid in foster care. If I can get her up for charges of threating the kid, I'll throw the book at her if that'll do (it's not double jeopardy, since the charges where scams).

Wait, where there separate counts for the scams? I'm sure there would be, in that case, drop one, let her think I've dropped all of them, until we get the kid, raise the sentences for the other counts to make up for the lost count.

Yes, I might end up on the news and lose my job, but that justice will be served and the kid would be safe.

 

[Spinrad]

But you had no evidence that she'd killed the child or sold it and she refuses to tell you what she did with it unless you cut her loose.

All of the crimes shes accused of add up to 20 or so years in prison

If we have no evidence we have to cut her lose. We have no right to hold her. Come on.

 

[Helo]

If we have no evidence we have to cut her lose. We have no right to hold her. Come on.

You DO have sufficent evidence to stick her in prison for 20 or so years, but she doesnt want to go and is offering the baby in exchange for a free pass

 

[Gracchus]

Well, as a prosecutor, you should prosecute. As a judge you could throw her into jail for contempt of court until she gave up the child, and rule that her sentence would not begin until she cleared the contempt, so she wouldn't be serving any time toward her earliest parole date until the child was recovered.

 

[Helo]

But then you have to consider where that child could be. SOME pedophiles, infertile couples, and others will actually buy a newborn baby for thier own purposes.

She might also be in foster care safe and sound...but you dont know that

 

[Spinrad]

You DO have sufficent evidence to stick her in prison for 20 or so years, but she doesnt want to go and is offering the baby in exchange for a free pass

Your honor, this wotness is obviously making this up as they go along. I move for misthread.

 

[Madcoil]

Kill her.

 

[Gracchus]

Accuse her of terrorism and turn her over to the Bush administration.

 

[Diane_Windsor]

So what do you do, let her go or lock her up?

No deal.

Diane