“Nothing can destroy a government more quickly than its failure to observe its own laws, or worse, its disregard of the charter of its own existence.” Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643, 659 (1961)
The giving of lighter sentences in exchange for testimony against others exemplifies the corruption of our legal system. The practice has established bribery as standard operating procedure in criminal prosecutions. The federal bribery statute says that “Whoever directly or indirectly, gives, offers, or promises anything of value to any person, for or because of the testimony under oath or affirmation given or to be given by such person as a witness…shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for not more than two years, or both.” 18 U.S.C. § 201(c)(2).
Leniency is obviously a “thing of value” the trading of which for use against another person is wrong in principle whether a statute says so or not. Prosecutors have been deemed exempt from this statute because “flipping” a suspect against another makes it easier to get a conviction. As usual, what began for the sake of expediency has continued for the sake of power —— power to insulate the national state against interference from outside sources, including those elected by the people to run it. It is another cog in a system of control over the people by the government, part of an ever-expanding mechanism unknown to the Constitution.