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The prosecutor is the chief legal representative of the prosecution in countries with either

the common law adversarial system, or the civil lawinquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal
party responsible for presenting the case in a criminal trial against an individual accused of breaking
the law.
Contents
[hide]
1 Common law jurisdictions
o 1.1 Directors of Public Prosecutions
o 1.2 Canada
o 1.3 Scotland
o 1.4 United States
2 Civil law jurisdictions
o 2.1 Belgium
o 2.2 Brazil
o 2.3 France
o 2.4 Germany
o 2.5 Italy
o 2.6 Japan
o 2.7 Poland
o 2.8 South Korea
o 2.9 Sweden
3 Socialist law jurisdictions
o 3.1 People's Republic of China
o 3.2 Vietnam
4 Institutional independence
5 Private prosecution
6 See also
7 References
8 Bibliography
9 External links
Common law jurisdictions[edit]
Prosecutors are typically lawyers who possess a law degree, and are recognized as legal
professionals by the court in which they intend to represent society (that is, they have beenadmitted
to the bar).
They usually only become involved in a criminal case once a suspect has been identified
and charges need to be filed. They are typically employed by an office of the government, with
safeguards in place to ensure such an office can successfully pursue the prosecution of government
officials. Often, multiple offices exist in a single country, especially those countries with federal
governments where sovereignty has been bifurcated or devolved in some way.
Since prosecutors are backed by the power of the state, they are usually subject to
special professional responsibility rules in addition to those binding all lawyers. For example, in
the United States, Rule 3.8 of the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct requires prosecutors to
"make timely disclosure to the defense of all evidence or information ... that tends to negate the guilt
of the accused or mitigates the offense." Not all U.S. states adopt the model rules, however U.S.
Supreme Court cases and other appellate cases have ruled that such disclosure is required. Typical
sources of ethical requirements imposed on prosecutors come from appellate court opinions, state
or federal court rules, and state or federal statutes (codified laws).
Directors of Public Prosecutions[edit]
In Australia, Canada, England and Wales, Hong Kong, Northern Ireland, Ireland, Kenya and South
Africa, the head of the prosecuting authority is typically known as the Director of Public
Prosecutions, and is appointed, not elected. A DPP may be subject to varying degrees of control by
the Attorney General, usually by a formal written directive which must be published.
In Australia, at least in the case of very serious matters, the DPP will be asked by the police, during
the course of the investigation, to advise them on sufficiency of evidence, and may well be asked, if
he or she thinks it proper, to prepare an application to the relevant court for search, listening device
or telecommunications interception warrants.
More recent constitutions, such as South Africa's, tend to guarantee the independence and
impartiality of the DPP.
Canada[edit]
In Canada, public prosecutors in most provinces are called Crown Attorney or Crown Counsel. They
are generally appointed by the provincial Attorney-General.
Scotland[edit]
Though Scots law is a mixed system, its civil law jurisdiction indicates its civil law heritage. Here, all
prosecutions are carried out by Procurators Fiscal and Advocates Depute on behalf of theLord
Advocate, and, in theory, they can direct investigations by the police. In very serious cases, a
Procurator Fiscal, Advocate Depute or even the Lord Advocate, may take charge of a police
investigation. It is at the discretion of the Procurator Fiscal, Advocate Depute or Lord Advocate to
take a prosecution to court, and to decide on whether or not to prosecute it undersolemn
procedure or summary procedure. Other remedies are open to a prosecutor in Scotland,
including fiscal fines and non-court based interventions, such as rehabilitation and social work. All
prosecutions are handled within the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. Procurators fiscal
will usually refer cases involving minors to Children's Hearings, which are not courts of law, but a
panel of lay members empowered to act in the interests of the child.
United States[edit]
In the United States, the director of any such offices may be known by any of several names
depending on the legal jurisdiction.
The titles of prosecutors in state courts vary from state to state and include the terms City
Attorney (in Missouri cities that have city prosecutors and all Washington state
cities),Commonwealth's Attorney (in Kentucky and Virginia), County
Attorney (in Arizona),
[1]
County Prosecutor (in New Jersey
[2]
), District
Attorney (in Georgia, Massachusetts, New York,Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, and Texas
[3]
), District
Attorney General (in Tennessee), Prosecuting
Attorney (in Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Washington counties, and West Virginia, and
in Missouri except cities that have "City Attorney" prosecutors), State's Attorney (in Connecticut,
Florida, Illinois, Maryland, and Vermont), State Prosecutor, Attorney General(in Delaware and
Rhode Island), and Solicitor (South Carolina).
[4]
Prosecutors are most often chosen through local
elections. United States Attorneys represent the federal government infederal court, in both civil and
criminal cases. Private attorneys general can bring criminal cases on behalf of private parties in
some states. Prosecutors are required by federal law to follow certain rules, such as disclosing
material evidence to the defense due to the 1963 Supreme Court ruling of Brady v. Maryland. Failure
to follow these rules may result in prosecutorial misconduct findings, although a 2013 investigation
found that actual discipline for prosecutorial misconduct was lacking.
[5]

Civil law jurisdictions[edit]
Prosecutors are typically civil servants who possess a university degree in law, and additional
training in the administration of justice. In some countries, such as France and Italy, they belong to
the same corps of civil servants as the judges.
Belgium[edit]
In Belgium, the Senior Crown prosecutor, or Procureur du Roi / Procureur des Konings (or Procureur
Gnral / Procureur-Generaal in appellate courts and in the Supreme Court), is supported by crown
prosecutors (substituts / substituten). He opens preliminary investigations and can hold a suspect in
custody for 24 hours. When necessary, a Crown prosecutor will request an examining judge (juge
d'instruction/onderzoeksrechter) be appointed to lead a judicial inquest. With a judge investigating,
Crown prosecutors do not conduct the interrogatories, but simply lays out the scope of the crimes
which the judge and law enforcement forces investigate (la saisine). Like defense counsel, Crown
prosecutors can request or suggest further investigation be carried out. The Crown prosecutor is in
charge of policy decisions and may prioritize cases and procedures as need be. During a criminal
trial, prosecutors must introduce and explain the case to the trier, i.e., judges or jury. They generally
suggest a reasonable sentence which the court is not obligated to follow; the court may decide on a
tougher or softer sentence. Crown prosecutors also have a number of administrative duties. They
may advise the court during civil actions. Under Belgian law, judges and prosecutors are judicial
officers with equal rank and pay. The Minister of Justice can order but not forbid a criminal
investigation (droit d'injonction positive / positief injunctierecht).
Brazil[edit]
Main article: Ministrio Pblico (Brazil)
In Brazil, the public prosecutors form a body of autonomous magistrates - the Ministrio
Pblico (literally Public Ministry) - working both at the federal and state level. The procuradores da
Repblica - federal prosecutors - are divided in three ranks, according to the jurisdiction of the courts
before which they officiate, thus the "procuradores da Repblica" (federal prosecutors) officiate
before single judges and lower courts, "procuradores regionais da Repblica" (prosecutors who
officiate before federal appellate courts), and "subprocuradores gerais da Repblica" (prosecutors
who officiate before the superior federal courts). The Procurador Geral da Repblica heads the
federal body, and tries cases before the Supremo Tribunal Federal (STF), Brazil's highest court, in
charge of judicial review and the judgment of criminal offenses perpetrated by federal legislators,
members of the cabinet, and the President of Brazil. At the state level, the career is usually divided
in "promotores de Justia" (state prosecutors), which officiate before the lower courts, and
"procuradores de Justia" (prosecutors officiating before the states' court of appeals). There are also
military prosecutors whose career, although linked to the federal prosecutors, is divided in a manner
similar to state prosecutors.
In Brazil the prosecutors' main job is to promote justice, as such they have the duty of not only trying
criminal cases, but, if during the trial, they become convinced of a defendant's innocence, requesting
the judge to acquit him. The prosecutor's office has always the last word on whether criminal
offenses will or will not be charged, with the exception of those rare cases in which Brazilian law
allows for private prosecution. In such cases, the prosecutor will officiate as custos legis, being
responsible to ensure that justice is indeed carried out. Although empowered by law to do so,
prosecutors conduct criminal investigations only in major cases, usually involving police or public
officials' wrongdoings. Also, they are in charge of supervising police work and directing the police in
their investigations. The power of individual prosecutors to hold criminal investigations is still
controversial and, although massively supported by judges, prosecutors and the general population,
it is being contested before the Supremo Tribunal Federal. Beside their criminal duties, Brazilian
prosecutors are among those authorized by the Brazilian constitution to bring action against private
individuals, commercial enterprises, and the federal, state and municipal governments, in the
defense of minorities, the environment, consumers, and the civil society in general.
France[edit]
In France, the Office of the Prosecutor includes a Chief Prosecutor, or Procureur de la
Rpublique (or procureur gnral in an appellate court or in the Supreme Court) assisted by deputy
prosecutors (avocats gnraux) and assistant prosecutors (substituts). The Chief Prosecutor
generally initiates preliminary investigations and, if necessary, asks an examining judge, or juge
d'instruction, be assigned to lead a formal judicial investigation. When an investigation is led by a
judge, the prosecutor plays a supervisory role, defining the scope of the crimes being examined by
the judge and law enforcement forces. Like defense counsel, the chief prosecutor may petition or
motion for further investigation. During criminal proceedings, prosecutors are responsible for
presenting the case at trial to either the Bench or jury. They generally suggest advisory sentencing
guidelines, but it remains at the Court's discretion to decide its own sentence, increased or reduced
as it sees fit. In addition, prosecutors have several administrative duties.
Prosecutors are considered by French law as magistrates (as in most civil law countries). While the
defense and plaintiff are both represented by common lawyers, sitting on the ground in the
courtroom, the prosecutor sits on a platform as the court does, although he doesn't participate in
deliberation. Judges and prosecutors are trained in the same school, and regard each other as
colleagues.
Germany[edit]
In Germany, the Staatsanwalt (literally 'state attorney') is a life-tenured public official in the senior
judicial service. The Staatsanwalt heads pre-trial criminal investigations, decides whether to press a
charge or drop it, and represents the government in criminal courts. He not only has the
"professional responsibility" not to withhold exculpatory information, but is also required by law to
actively determine such circumstances and to make them available to the defendant or his/hers
defense attorney. In case he is not convinced of the defendants guilt, the state attorney is required to
plead against or in favour of the defendant according to the prosecutor's own assessment (RiStBV,
No. 138/139). Prosecution is compulsory if the prosecutor has sufficient evidence to convict.
[6]

Italy[edit]
In Italy, a Prosecutor's Office is composed of a Chief Prosecutor (procuratore capo) assisted by
deputy prosecutors (procuratori aggiunti) and assistant prosecutors (sostituti procuratori).
Prosecutors in Italy are judicial officers just like judges and are ceremonially referred to as Pubblico
Ministero/ Public Ministry' (or P.M.)
Italian Prosecutors officiate as custos legis, being responsible to ensure that justice is indeed carried
out. They are obligated under the Constitution to initiate preliminary investigations once they are
informed or take personal notice of a criminal act, the so-called notitia criminis, or receive a bill of
complaint. They can make direct investigations or conduct them through orders and directives given
to (judicial) police detectives (which anyway have the chance to make their own parallel
investigations in coordination with the Prosecutor): if enough evidence has been gathered in order to
proceed, the prosecution is compulsory and it must move from preliminary investigations to initiate
trial proceedings.
[7]
At trial, the prosecuting attorney has to handle the prosecution but is prohibited
from withholding exculpatory evidence, for they have to promote justice, which means that they have
the duty of not only trying criminal cases, but, to request the judge to acquit him if, during the trial,
they become convinced of a defendant's innocence, or agree that there is no evidence, beyond any
reasonable doubt, of his guiltiness.
In appellate courts, the Office of the Prosecutor is called Procura Generale and the Chief
Prosecutor Procuratore Generale (PG). The Procuratore Generale presso la Corte di Cassazione is
the Chief General Prosecutor before the Corte di Cassazione, the Supreme Court of Italy.
Prosecutors are allowed during their career to act in the other's stead, but a recent ruling by the
Italian Constitutional Court stated that prosecutors, who wish to become judges, must relocate to
another region and are prohibited to sit or hear trials that they themselves initiated.
Japan[edit]
In Japan, public prosecutors kensatsu-kan (
?
) are professional officials who have considerable
powers of investigation, prosecution, superintendence of criminal execution and so on. Prosecutors
can direct police for investigation purposes, and sometimes investigate directly. Only prosecutors
can prosecute criminals in principle, and prosecutors can decide whether to prosecute or not. High-
ranking officials of the Ministry of Justice are largely prosecutors.
Poland[edit]
The highest ranking prosecutor office of the Prokuratura in Poland is the Prokurator
Generalny (General Prosecutor) - chief of the Prokuratura Generalna (General Prosecutor Office).
The GP has 5 deputies. Structure of Public Prosecutor in Poland is 4-level: General Prosecutor
Office --> Appellation Prosecutor Offices (11) --> District Prosecutor Offices (46) --> Regional
Prosecutor Offices (326).
South Korea[edit]
Prosecutors are the public officials who are members of the ministry of Justice. Prosecutors can
conduct crime investigations directly or indirectly. They are responsible for the entire process of
investigations and court prosecutions. Since Korean modern law was designed after continental
system, the role of Korean prosecutors is similar or identical to that of European equivalents in
commanding investigations, determining indictable cases and prosecuting process. Korean
prosecutors take pride in successful prosecutions of former presidents(1995) and sons of the
incumbent presidents(1997 and 2002). Besides, they have made important contributions to
convicting many corrupt high-ranking officials and business leaders.
[8]

Sweden[edit]
In Sweden, public prosecutors are lawyers who work out of the Swedish Office of Public
Prosecutions (klagarmyndigheten) and direct police investigations of serious crimes. For all
criminal cases, public prosecutors decide arrests and charges on behalf of the public and are the
only public officers who can make such decisions. Plaintiffs also have the option of hiring their own
special prosecutor (enskilt tal). The exception is cases concerning crimes against the freedom of
the press for which the Attorney General acts as the prosecuting attorney. In court, the prosecutor is
not necessarily in an adversarial relationship to the defendant, but is under an obligation to
investigate and present information which may incriminate or exhonerate the defendant. He is not a
judicial officer, nor does he participate in the private deliberations of the court.
Public prosecutors are the only public officers who can decide to appeal cases to appellate courts
(hovrtter). Otherwise, appeals are initiated by defense counsel, the plaintiff, their representatives,
and other parties to the case (mlsganden). When a case has been decided by an appellate court,
the right to appeal to the Supreme Court passes from the case's prosecutor to the Director of Public
Prosecutions (Riksklagaren).
Socialist law jurisdictions[edit]
Main article: Public Procurator
A Public Procurator is an office used in Socialist judicial systems which, in some ways, corresponds
to that of a public prosecutor in other legal systems, but with more far-reaching responsibilities, such
as handling investigations otherwise performed by branches of the police. Conversely, the policing
systems in socialist countries, such as the Militsiya of the Soviet Union, were not aimed at fulfilling
the same roles as police forces in Western democracies.
People's Republic of China[edit]
Main article: Supreme People's Procuratorate
A Public Procurator is a position in the People's Republic of China, analogous to both detective and
public prosecutor. Legally, they are bound by Public Procurators' Law of the People's Republic
of China. According to Article 6, the functions and duties of public procurators are as follows:
1. Supervise the enforcement of laws according to law.
2. Public prosecution on behalf of the State.
3. Investigate criminal cases directly accepted by the People's
Procuratorates as provided by law.
4. Other functions and duties as provided by law.
Vietnam[edit]
Main article: Supreme People's Procuracy of Vietnam
The Supreme People's Procuracy is the highest office of public procurators in Vietnam.
Institutional independence[edit]

This section possibly contains original research. Please improve
it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations. Statements
consisting only of original research should be removed. (December 2010)
In many countries, the prosecutor's administration is directly subordinate to the executive branch
(e.g. the US Attorney General is a member of the President's cabinet). In some other countries -
such as Italy or Brazil - the prosecutors are judicial civil servants and so their hierarchy is installed
with the same (or nearly the same) liberties and independence warranties which the judges
traditionally enjoy.
In other countries, a form of private prosecution is available, meaning person(s) or a private entity
can directly petition the courts to hold trial against someone they feel is guilty of a crime, should the
prosecutor refuse to indict him/her.
Private prosecution[edit]
In the early history of England, the victim of a crime and his family had the right to hire a private
attorney to prosecute criminal charges against the person alleged to have injured the victim.
[9]
In the
18th century, prosecution of almost all criminal offences in England was private, usually by the
victim.
[10]
In colonial America, because of Dutch (and possibly French) practice and the expansion of
the office of attorney general, public officials came to dominate the prosecution of crimes. However,
privately funded prosecutors constituted a significant element of the state criminal justice system
throughout the nineteenth century.
[11]
The use of a private prosecutor was incorporated into
the common law of Virginia and is still permitted there.
[9]
Private prosecutors were also used in North
Carolina as late as 1975.
[12]
Private prosecution has been used in Nigeria, but the practice is being
phased out.
[13]

Bruce L. Benson's To Serve and Protect lauds the role of private prosecutors, often employed
by prosecution associations, in serving the needs of crime victims in England.
Radicallibertarian theory holds that public prosecutors should not exist, but that crimes should
instead be treated as civil torts. Murray Rothbard writes, "In a libertarian world, there would be no
crimes against an ill-defined 'society,' and therefore no such person as a 'district attorney' who
decides on a charge and then presses those charges against an alleged criminal."
[14]
Private
prosecution has been cited as a remedy for district attorneys' unwarranted inaction.
[15]

See also[edit]
M.E.D.E.L European association of judges and public prosecutors.
Political corruption
Police corruption
References[edit]
1. Jump up^ "Maricopa County Attorneys Office Phoenix, Arizona".
Maricopacountyattorney.org. Retrieved 2013-10-04.
2. Jump up^ "President's Message". Prosecutors Office
Management Association (POMA) of New Jersey. November 5,
2010. Retrieved 2011-12-22.
3. Jump up^ See: Category:District attorneys.
4. Jump up^ "South Carolina Bench Book for Summary Court
Judges - General Section". Judicial.state.sc.us. Retrieved 2013-10-
04.
5. Jump up^ Who Polices Prosecutors Who Abuse Their Authority?
Usually Nobody. ProPublica.
6. Jump up^ Herrmann, Joachim (19731974), Rule of Compulsory
Prosecution and the Scope of Prosecutorial Discretion in Germany,
The 41, U. Chi. L. Rev., p. 468
7. Jump up^ Carlo Guarnieri (January 1997), The judiciary in the
Italian political crisis 20 (1), West European Politics, pp. 157
175, doi:10.1080/01402389708425179
8. Jump up^ "spo". spo. Retrieved 2013-10-04.
9. ^ Jump up to:
a

b
Nichols, Matthew S. (20002001), No One Can
Serve Two Masters: Arguments against Private
Prosecutors 13 (279), Cap. Def. J.
10. Jump up^ Friedman, David D. (1995), Making Sense of English
Law Enforcement in the Eighteenth Century 2, U. Chi. L. Sch.
Roundtable, p. 475
11. Jump up^ Robert M. Ireland (Jan 1995). "Privately Funded
Prosecution of Crime in the Nineteenth-Century United
States". The American Journal of Legal History (Temple
University) 39 (1): 4358.JSTOR 845749.
12. Jump up^ Sidman, Andrew (19751976), Outmoded Concept of
Private Prosecution, The 25, Am. U. L. Rev., p. 754
13. Jump up^ Isabella Okagbue (Spring 1990). "Private Prosecution
in Nigeria: Recent Developments and Some Proposals". Journal of
African Law (Cambridge University Press on behalf of the School
of Oriental and African Studies) 34 (1): 53
66. doi:10.1017/s0021855300008196. JSTOR 745600.
14. Jump up^ Rothbard, Murray, "Punishment and
Proportionality", The Ethics of Liberty
15. Jump up^ "Private Prosecution: A Remedy for District Attorneys'
Unwarranted Inaction". The Yale Law Journal (The Yale Law
Journal Company, Inc.) 65 (2): 209234. Dec
1955. JSTOR 793827.
Bibliography[edit]
Gad Barzilai The Attorney General and the State Prosecutor: Is
Institutional Separation Warrented? Jerusalem: The Israel
Democracy Institute, 2010 [1]
MAZZILLI, Hugo Nigro. Regime Juridico do Ministrio Pblico, 5
edio, So Paulo: Saraiva, 2001.
Raoul Muhm, Gian Carlo Caselli (Hrsg.), Die Rolle des
Staatsanwaltes Erfahrungen in Europa Il ruolo del Pubblico
Ministero Esperienze in Europa Le role du Magistrat du Parquet
Expriences en Europe The role of the Public Prosecutor
Experiences in Europe, Vecchiarelli Editore Manziana (Roma)
2005 ISBN 88-8247-156-X
Raoul Muhm, "The role of the Public Prosecutor in Germany" in The
Irish Jurist, Volume XXXVIII, New Series 2003, The Law Faculty,
University College, Dublin [2]
Erick Maurel, Paroles de procureur (ed.GALLIMARD 2008
PARIS), ISBN 978-2-07-011977-6
External links[edit]
Prosecutor.info indexes almost 2,900 prosecutor web sites
throughout the USA and other countries.
ProsecutorTips.com Free trial advocacy tips for prosecutors and
trial
Burnley Law Firm Summaries of Recent U.S. Criminal Law
Decisions
CCPE Consultative Council of European Prosecutors
L'Archivio "diritto history"
IAP International Association of Prosecutors
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