Via Radley Balko, a Wisconsin prosecutor has decided that he will wield his power to indict and prosecute teachers for teaching students about contraceptives.  His theory is that since children aren’t allowed to have sex under Wisconsin law, providing sex ed about contraceptives encourages students to break the law.

The problem is that teachers are required by law to teach students about contraceptives if they teach sex education at all.

The law doesn’t force any schools to teach the sex education classes, but it sets out strict guidelines on what should be taught in the schools that choose to do so. The law passed narrowly in the legislature and was the topic of a fierce battle between Republicans and Democrats: No Republicans voted for it, and it was signed by a Democratic governor.

The legislature passes a law, the governor signs it. The district attorney prosecutes for complying with it. 

Because the law requires teachers to instruct children not only about contraceptives but about how to use them, Juneau County District Attorney Scott Southworth said, schools are forced to encourage students to “engage in sexual behavior, whether as a victim or an offender.”

In his letter, Southworth said the law would convert sex education classes “into a radical program that sexualizes our children as early as kindergarten. This, in turn, will lead to more child sexual assaults.”

Putting aside, for the moment, the question of whether one agrees with the law or the teaching of contraceptive measure in sex education classes, an issue that may well be controversial for some, DA Southworth has, by his threats of prosecution, undermined the fundamental structure of government.  Forget those silly roles played by the legislative and executive branches; local district attorneys now posses the super-veto to quash compliance with a law with which they disagree.

This reflects a change in mindset in the scheme of criminal law.  Clearly, subjecting teachers to prosecution is, in itself, a substantial harm.  Where the law mandates it, then the prosecutor’s imposition of that harm is justified.  Where the law does not mandate it, then the prosecutor has gone rogue.  Where the law mandates the opposite, the prosecutor goes beyond rogue into the realm of threat to society. 

The power to prosecute is awesome.  It’s a power that can be easily abused, with devastating results.  But when it’s flagrantly abused, deliberately and purposefully to undermine the process of government, what little integrity the system maintains is lost.

While Southworth’s threats may be viewed as mere grand-standing shenanigans by some, it strikes me as ample demonstration that he’s incapable of handling the authority that comes with his position.  He is a threat to both law and order.  That he feels empowered to threaten prosecution based upon his political sensibilities, about what he thinks should not be taught to children, reflects a clear inability to be trusted with the authority to prosecute.

Rep. Kelda Helen Roys, a Democrat, told the Wisconsin State Journal that she believes there’s no problem with the law.

She said Southworth, a Republican, is a “zealot” who wrote the letter to try to scare people out of teaching the sexual education classes.

Whether accurate or not, this is a woefully inadequate response.  The question isn’t whether there’s “no problem with the law,” but whether the State of Wisconsin will be held captive by the Juneau County District Attorney.  Is it acceptable to this representative, to all the reps, to the Governor, that laws duly enacted meet with Southworth’s approval?  And what of the other prosecutors?  Must the laws meet with their approval as well?  Must the legislature and governor go begging for permission to pass laws in the State of Wisconsin.

That a prosecutor would be allowed to remain in power, while threatening prosecution of those who not only commit no crime, but comply with the law, reduces the state government to a farce.  This abuse of power cannot be tolerated, and this attempt to usurp the power of the state must be quickly and decisively brought to an end, lest we end up with prosecutors running the world and using their power to engineer society to their liking.