overprosecute

English

Etymology

From over- +‎ prosecute.

Verb

overprosecute (third-person singular simple present overprosecutes, present participle overprosecuting, simple past and past participle overprosecuted)

1. (transitive) To prosecute (a crime or community) excessively.
   • 2017, Sharon Dolovich, Alexandra Natapoff, The New Criminal Justice Thinking, page 61:

     The emphasis on prosecution and conviction as metrics of success leads police and prosecutors to overarrest, overprosecute, and overpunish low-level drug and other crimes in many cases.

   • 2020 June 22, Trudy Ring, “Mondaire Jones Could Be the Nation's First Black Gay Congressman”, in The Advocate‎^[1]:

     Criminal justice reform has become a national topic of discussion given recent police killings of Black men, and Jones points out that he's been a longtime activist on this issue, with his experience in Palo Alto and as an NAACP youth organizer. Also, he notes, as a Black man, "People like me are overpoliced, overarrested, overprosecuted."