So I read the book, and discovered the author was full of SSSS. You have to stretch the definitions of criminal acts beyond their breaking points just to establish (local) infractions, and even violating federal regulations (which aren't criminal statutes) is something people rarely do--maybe 1x or 2x a year, usually with regards to their tax return).

Harvey Silverglate's claims are like the Hot Coffee case. It makes for a good sound byte but when you actually look into the details the truth is the exact opposite of what was claimed.

I heard about this several years ago. I've spent much time thinking about it since and I don't have a clue how we could go about fixing this.

It seems to me that concentrated benefits and diffuse costs seems to skew US laws towards, say, tyranny. We just don't realize it until it's prosecuted like we are conditioned to think tyranny presents itself. I imagine there are plenty of people in the US that already feel it as if living under the US legal system is already tyranny.

BTW - is "tyranny" even the right word for this? I feel like when federal prosecutors only have to actually present their case in 2% of charges to juries by using/abusing the plea bargain system to scare the defendant into submission with a ridiculous opening bid, it feels like something odious.