Why publicize riot arrests? Doesn't it just give trump a list of people he will then pardon?

[BamaRefugee]

Sorry if this has already been discussed, I've been away from DU for a few days.

I'm just wondering if it wouldn't be better to keep arrests secret, or to wait to arrest until trump is out.

If he pardons people like the guy who took over Pelosi's office, he's going to make them into Mega-Heroes of mythical proportions to all the other assholes out there.

[live love laugh]

1. I thought that too but he could also do a blanket pardon. nt

[Irish_Dem]

2. Won't make a difference. He can get the names anyway.

And if he pardons them there is going to be more uproar.

The names/ photos need to be made public. The military, LEO, and FBI have black eyes about this situation and need to show some effort to do their jobs.

[meadowlander]

3. They need to counter the propoganda on Fox, et al that it was antifa.

Also they need to send a warning to the people planning further violence.

Name and publicly shame every one of these fuckers. They can still be brought up on State charges if they planned the riot at home and then traveled to attend it.

They also need to restore public confidence in the rule of law given the massive security failure at the capitol.

[Bluethroughu]

4. I feel it is excellent to arrest these people publically

There are a lot of RWNJs that believe this was their duty as a citizen. They need to understand stand they participated in an domestic terror insurrection against their own country. People were killed, lives of officals threaten.

The country needs to know these people for what they support.

If trump wanted to pardon, he'd request a print out of the people arrested.

[David__77]

5. Absolutely not.

Publicizing this is very helpful politically. If Trump pardons all the better because it will turn up pressure on Republicans. These people arrested are in incidental to the bigger political question.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

6. Totalitarian governments arrest people in secret.

[Takket]

7. drumpf doesn't need TV to figure out the names. He has access to all arrest info through DOJ

[greenjar_01]

8. Maybe, but on balance, it nationally humiliates these people and tells others what happens

if they want to fuck around in this manner going forward.

One of the signal traits of the people who participated in the Capitol Insurrection is the sense of impunity. It's shocking. Showing their mugshots and names on federal warrants makes the next guy say, wait, do I want that? It's very valuable, since a lot of these people are soft commitments. Once you strip the soft commitments away, it gets harder for them to do that. There's a great deal of value in showing consequences for these behaviors, even if it's just a night or two in jail, and employer issue, and a fine. We don't need ten years in prison for these people; I objected to it when Trump proposed it for others, and still do. For some, yes, if they were violent toward police or journalists or others, or can be proven to have been in a violent conspiracy to harm Congresspersons, throw the damn book at them. But bozos like this guy and the Florida imbecile, I don't need to see long prison sentences for them. Hold them up as idiots who now have to deal with a federal prosecution, and reasonable punishment is enough.

[RockRaven]

9. Secret arrests are banana republic shit. Arrests must be public because it safeguards all of us.

Remember black-clad jackboots in Portland grabbing people into unmarked minivans? That becomes the norm when you allow secret arrests.

[BamaRefugee]

12. I work in the court system, thousands of people are arrested every day without public announcements.

Not arguing with you, just clarifying that 99% of arrests never show up on TV or the papers.

[RockRaven]

13. Right, but that is then the media who deserves the criticism for how they cover what is

otherwise public records. I read the OP as opining that law enforcement should keep the arrests secret until Trump is gone.

[highplainsdem]

10. He doesn't need their names to pardon them. He can pardon them as a group: protesters at the Capitol

or a label like that.

[Chainfire]

11. I think that in his present situation he would be putting himself into extra legal jeoardy

by pardoning those folks. Trump is not about to sacrifice himself to help the losers and suckers that are getting arrested.

I don't see it.