The File
Paired prosecution outcomes across matched conduct in two jurisdictions. The pairing rule governs this file: both halves of every comparison carry records, or the pair is out.
The Documented Record
DOJ's own fact sheet reports more than 1,350 defendants charged in the January 6 Capitol breach investigation, which it calls the largest in its history. [DOCUMENTED]
Federal prosecutors dismissed a substantial share of the 2020 Portland federal courthouse riot cases, per DOJ Oregon records and contemporaneous reporting; at least dozens of dismissals were documented by early 2021. [DOCUMENTED]
The CPS's own release documents Lucy Connolly's 31-month sentence for inciting racial hatred over a social media post after the 2024 Southport killings, alongside Tyler Kay's 38-month sentence for a similar post; the Court of Appeal refused Connolly's sentence appeal in May 2025. [DOCUMENTED]
What the Record Does Not Establish
Asymmetry is stated here as documented outcome differences across cases with differing facts, charges, and evidentiary postures; the file does not claim the case pairs are legally identical, and it attributes no motive to any prosecutor. That prosecutorial motive explains the differences is an inference the record does not establish. What the record does establish is the outcome gap itself, counted from the prosecutors' own releases.
Sources
- Facts and figures: January 6 Capitol breach investigation, US Department of Justice
- Federal Portland protest cases dismissed, OPB, 2021
- Childminder admits inciting racial hatred over social media post, Crown Prosecution Service, 2024
Connected Files
INTL-004 documents prosecutorial discretion as ordinary practice for contrast. INTL-005 documents the highest-profile case set in the same debate.