To restore executive accountability, the Obama administration must direct the Defense Department to disclose its evidence of torture, and allow the Attorney General to enforce the law equally by prosecuting up the chain of command.
"In some ways they've already spent money to go forward on that small process, and you can make the argument they would be spending money in violation of the appropriations rider just by prosecuting up to that point, just by filing the charges," Smith said.
Mail and wire fraud statutes can incorporate older conduct into a broader scheme, and securities fraud can be prosecuted up to six years after the last act.
The deepest flaw is the failure to investigate and prosecute up the chain of command as defendants express confusion over the rules.
Leave the decision to prosecute up to the teen, encourage going to the authorities but understand and be aware of the risks and problems going to court.
"There's an awful lot of money involved in prosecuting, locking up, treating, and registering these folks," Phil Taylor, a former therapist for men convicted of sex offenses in Texas, told me.
In Washington, the State Department said the American Embassy had been granted unlimited access to the Americans, but where and whether they would be prosecuted was up to Haiti.
Thousands of women a year go through the whole criminal justice system, being raided, arrested, prosecuted, ending up with criminal records and in some cases actually in prison.
The commission now has the power to impose tough sanctions that could see failing hospitals warned, prosecuted, fined up to £50,000 and ultimately closed down if they fail to comply with its edicts.
In 2011, the CATO Institute compiled over 8,300 reports of police misconduct in the U.S. from April 2009 through December 2010 and found that for 426 law enforcement officers accused of using fatal force, only 28 faced charges and only half of those who were prosecuted ended up being convicted.
"The DA changed the type of crime [from a misdemeanor to a felony] and ended up prosecuting them for aggravated homicide against their own child, which raises the penalty up to 30, 40, or even 50 years behind bars," Herrera added.
