It should tell you something that every lawyer on HN is defending Ortiz. It's because Ortiz isn't the problem--the system, and more specifically the laws, are the problem.
Nietzsche's justifications have no relevance here. Removing Ortiz wouldn't change anything because the next US Prosecutor would simply do the same thing given the same set of facts. Prosecutors overreach. They have to, given the way double jeopardy and the rest of the criminal justice system works.
We get that you and the other technerds are angry about what happened to Swartz, but if you don't redirect your misplaced anger where it properly belongs (i.e., the laws that gave rise to this situation in the first place), you won't accomplish anything, and then Swartz really will have died for nothing.
* The sad part, though, is that the one thing punishment will never achieve is to make Ortiz have a guilty conscience. She and people like you will never realize that she is a bad person and should feel bad.*
Lawyers have feelings, too. Ortiz almost certainly went into the prosecutor's office to do good, to see justice done and to protect the innocent. Do you really believe that Ortiz doesn't feel torn up that a young white collar defendant committed suicide because she pushed him too hard? Because if you really believe that, then you are the sociopath, not her. She will spend the rest of her career second guessing herself with every defendant--both the defendants like Swartz and the murderers and drug dealers that form the rest of her caseload.
I agree that the system is the problem. Never said it wasn't. Seeing Ortiz punished is not mutually exclusive with fixing the system. I was simply attempting to offer an explanation as to why people are calling for punishment given that it will not fix the system or prevent future Aaron's (as you've been so enthusiastically pointing out for the past two days). That's why Nietzsche is relevant - clearly deterrence is not the motive here, so what is? Do you have a better explanation?
As for your last paragraph, I'm happy to let my fellow technerds judge who is the sociopath here. I do believe that Ortiz has egregiously failed if her intent were to do good. I do not believe in the prima facie legitimacy of duly enacted laws in a representative democracy - especially one made up of such morally degraded citizens as our current United States.
...the system, and more specifically the laws, are the problem.
Not "more specifically", the right word is "including". And the system includes a lot of other broken things.
Such as the way that prosecutors habitually overreach. And no, they don't "have to" do that. They have discretion, but don't get ahead in their jobs unless they do overreach.
So yes, the laws need improvement. But so do prosecutors.
Lawyers have feelings, too. Ortiz almost certainly went into the prosecutor's office to do good, to see justice done and to protect the innocent.
I believe this to be true.
I also believe that Ortiz completely lost track of that, and has become something that she hopefully would have hated when she was younger. Unfortunately for Ortiz, I further believe that having her bear real consequences for having lost her moral compass and justifying her actions with "that's just my job" would be a very useful step on the path to fixing the broken prosecutorial culture that lead to Aaron's suicide.
She will spend the rest of her career second guessing herself with every defendant--both the defendants like Swartz and the murderers and drug dealers that form the rest of her caseload.
Yes, she likely will. Furthermore this is probably not the first tragedy she's been involved with, nor is it likely to be her last if she continues. However her very success in the broken system she's in is direct evidence that this incentive is not enough to get her - or other successful prosecutors - to behave in a humane fashion to those she opposes. Therefore the fact that she feels unhappy about the result is clearly insufficient deterrence.
Nietzsche's justifications have no relevance here. Removing Ortiz wouldn't change anything because the next US Prosecutor would simply do the same thing given the same set of facts. Prosecutors overreach. They have to, given the way double jeopardy and the rest of the criminal justice system works.
We get that you and the other technerds are angry about what happened to Swartz, but if you don't redirect your misplaced anger where it properly belongs (i.e., the laws that gave rise to this situation in the first place), you won't accomplish anything, and then Swartz really will have died for nothing.
* The sad part, though, is that the one thing punishment will never achieve is to make Ortiz have a guilty conscience. She and people like you will never realize that she is a bad person and should feel bad.*
Lawyers have feelings, too. Ortiz almost certainly went into the prosecutor's office to do good, to see justice done and to protect the innocent. Do you really believe that Ortiz doesn't feel torn up that a young white collar defendant committed suicide because she pushed him too hard? Because if you really believe that, then you are the sociopath, not her. She will spend the rest of her career second guessing herself with every defendant--both the defendants like Swartz and the murderers and drug dealers that form the rest of her caseload.