Here it is more about how you treat the proven guilty. The answer I think should be measured proportionally, and geared towards rehabilitation. Plea bargains and privatization of various aspects seem to go right against that. It takes away control of the court systems and gives it to the executive branch, to people who are measured on their conviction rate and arrests. This all badly needs reform, but good luck when the Supreme Court is now just another political game.
"Here it is more about how you treat the proven guilty."
That is a part of it.
"Cops laugh about “probable cause on four legs” but the damage to innocent lives is real."
This is the first sentence in the article. So I think this the mention of innocent until proven guilty is something to talk about concerning the article. The system treats you like a guilty person and stacks the deck against you. I think the plea bargaining that you mention falls into this. I would add that prosecutorial and law enforcement discretion is probably the biggest area of abuse. Because of this, bad laws stay on the book and can be enforced with bias because many people think "oh they wouldn't charge me with that". For example, in my state you can be put in jail for 90 days for your dog getting out of your yard. If it happens twice in one year, it's a misdemeanor. Pretty insane really, but people don't care because it's only enforced sometimes and they don't know how serious it can be.
