From: Eliezer S. Yudkowsky (sentience@pobox.com)
Date: Wed Apr 10 2002 - 13:45:26 MDT
Harvey Newstrom wrote:
>
> I know of no such immunity for press. If there is such an immunity, it
> should be abolished. Another faulty feedback mechanism that I advocate
> abolishing is the idea that evidence gathered illegally has to be thrown
> out of court. I say, go ahead and use the evidence to prosecute the
> criminal, and then also prosecute the person who illegally gathered the
> evidence. One crime shouldn't absolve another crime.
That's an excellent idea - but there would have to be some mechanism making
sure that the people who illegally gathered the evidence were really
convicted. For example, a law stating that when evidence has been shown to
be contaminated under a low standard of proof, then that evidence cannot be
used in court unless the person who gathered it is actually *convicted*,
*sentenced*, and *actually punished* under whatever higher standard of proof
is required for conviction.
-- -- -- -- --
Eliezer S. Yudkowsky http://singinst.org/
Research Fellow, Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence
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