Osama bin Laden no longer a criminal

On Friday, U.S. Federal prosecutors formally dropped charges against Osama bin Laden.

This officially closes the criminal case against the al Qaeda leader. Interestingly, the case was not opened due to the 9/11 attacks, but rather for bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa, attacks which killed 224 people and injured thousands.

The decision to drop the charges came after bin Laden was killed by U.S. Navy SEALs, and his identity was verified through DNA samples, facial recognition technology, and verification through one of his wives who lived with him in the compound in Abbottabad in which he was killed.

There are two interesting things of note in this story. First, that there is in fact a need to drop charges against a dead person, which illustrates the sheer organizational efficiency of the government. And second, the trust we have in our technology, illustrated by having to double-check our answer with the wives of people we kill.