In criminal cases, prosecutors should have to request a sentence up front, at the start of the case.
Then, if the defence wins the government should pay the defence lawyers a % of the cost of incarceration for every year requested. Let's say 50%
Why? Think about it: by winning, your lawyers just saved the government a _ton_ of money. The US spends an average of $31,000/inmate year. Canada is even higher: $114,000/inmate year.
Heck, do it for reduced sentences too...
https://globalnews.ca/news/4099115/cost-prisons-incarceration-canada-pbo/
@pete interesting idea... how would you deal with guilty pleas?
@121 No reason to do anything different with them with what I'm proposing that I can see. We already have incentives for people to plead guilty in the form of reduces sentences, etc.
Main thing is to find some way of funding vigorous defenses. Treating it as a cost savings might just be politically viable.
