The Justice Department said the ruling would have no effect on the prosecution of Mr. Jefferson, who is facing trial next year on charges of bribery, racketeering, conspiracy, money laundering and obstruction of justice.
In this light, the intended effect of this prosecution is insidiously transparent: to send a chilling effect through the movement against mass incarceration, and dampen the spirit of resistance it has ignited.
The report said it was difficult to assess the effects of the prosecutions and HMRC research had not been able to find evidence that the cases led to changes in behaviour or increases in tax revenues.
The effect of the proposed prosecutions, he said, would be "rather to exacerbate than to assuage the feelings which lie behind the defamation of groups".
And does the wide and legal availability of both cultivation equipment and seed stock, from tax paying UK businesses, effect the legitimacy of the prosecution?
"The government has done a poor job in thinking through the potential effects of this prosecution".
Saunders said he had received a very moving letter from Edmondson's wife about the effect of the investigation and prosecution on their young family.
Scott Horton, an expert in human rights law at Patterson, Belknap, Webb & Tyler in New York, said the memorandums would have a practical effect in the prosecution of civilians who engaged in abuses in Iraq and Afghanistan.
What good is the deterrent effect of criminal prosecution if a diplomat can hold out the prospect of immunity?
