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“Another popular question included in ten surveys: If a prosecutor categorically refuses to charge certain crimes, should the state give a special prosecutor authority to enforce Indiana’s laws in that county?”
What a ridiculous questions for lawmakers to ask.
1.) The question is asked in such a way that does not make clear that it is in reference to Ryan Mears decision to not prosecute simple marijuana possession. There is every indication – including the results of summer legislative task-force – that Hoosiers broadly support marijuana legalization.
2.) Prosecutorial discretion is the cornerstone of any working criminal justice system. Especially in Indianapolis (and nearly every other city its size), where prosecutors, police, courts, and public defenders are all overwhelmed. The only victims of simple possession of marijuana are people who get annoyed by the smell of marijuana (which includes me), whereas the victims of clogging the courts with such cases would be every single person who deserves justice for more serious matters. Each and every defendant has the right to a fair and speedy trial; overloading the criminal justice system with low stakes prosecutions increases the odds that more serious offenders will get off easy. In some cases, this may mean that some violent offenders get off the hook completely because they weren’t given their day in court early enough. In other cases – most cases – it means that the prosecutor’s office will offer relatively light plea deals such offenders can be given some sort of punishment before the clock runs out. We are already seeing the latter play out without prosecuting simple possession, and various jurisdictions around the country are seeing the former.
3.) For many of the reasons I laid out in my second point, Indianapolis hardly prosecuted simple possession of marijuana prior to Mears’ time in office. It’s not worth the city’s time. The only thing that Mears did differently from those who came before him was the public announcement that such simple marijuana possession cases would not be prosecuted. Those who smoke marijuana in Indianapolis already knew that. If anything, the public announcements allows police to focus on more important things, while giving residents who smoke marijuana – which is a high percentage all throughout Indiana – more trust in the police.
4.) Yet again, state lawmakers who couldn’t push their unpopular ideology through elected positions in Marion County’s municipal government refuse to believe that they are wrong. Instead of acknowledging that they are the ones who hold unpopular opinions, they try to codify their unpopular opinions through the back door. The State Legislature needs to hold itself to a higher standard than to allow itself to be abused by failed Marion County politicians who use the authority of the statehouse to make undemocratic power grabs.
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As someone who has designed and conducted public opinion surveys over a 30+ years career, it is important to understand that the survey audience and the methodology of the questions asked can influence the responses.
For instance, if a state lawmaker posts the survey on his or her website (either the official state website or the campaign website), the universe of responses will be small and self-selected. So the results are more likely to reflect the known views frequently expressed by the politician posing the questions.
And how those questions are posed also can bias the responses. Professional pollsters who seek an honest reflection of an individual’s views will take great care to construct questions in the most neutral way possible. “Loaded” questions that invite a desired response are avoided at all costs, while questions that are multiple choice and posed as “which is closest to your view?” are better than simple questions that can only be only as “yes” or “no.”
I assume that the survey the state legislators send out are not designed by professional pollsters, and more likely than not are written to get responses that largely agreed with the stated positions of the legislators.
Also, survey results typically only suggest “what” people think, not why they think the way they do on the issues. That is why, in my career, I always recommended to clients that focus groups held after surveys are conducted are a better key to understanding their target audiences. A 90-minute discussion of 8-10 people, repeated multiple times in multiple locations, provides a better, larger, more complete picture of what people really think – or if they are thinking at all.
Bottom line, take the results of these legislator surveys with a grain of salt. Better yet, disregard them altogether.