It now appears that a state judge, who engaged in wrongful conduct as a prosecutor that led to the imprisonment of an innocent man for over 20 years, will be prosecuted.  If he is guilty, as it seems, I hope they throw the book at him.  (Hat tip: Eugene Volokh).

This case (about which I blogged here) was the one that got me thinking about this issue.  If the judge and former prosecutor serves time, it will be very rare.

Unfortunately, there is a tremendous and unjustified leniency towards people who take actions that can wrongfully imprison the innocent.  Recently, there have been a few  cases of women who wrongfully accused men of rape leading to at most slaps on the wrist.  See here and here.

All of these people — the prosecutors and the false victims — have engaged in tremendously harmful behavior.  And should serve real time.