United States of America

Under the federal system of American justice, the prosecutor is known as a U.S. Attorney. Throughout the many states and local jurisdictions a prosecutor is known as a solicitor, district attorney (DA), state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth attorney, circuit attorney, or county attorney.

A prosecutor in the U.S. is responsible for presenting the state's or people's case against a criminal defendant who has been charged under some violation of the criminal (penal) code of a state, local or federal government. It is the duty of the prosecutor to introduce evidence against the accused, present testimony of witnesses, cross-examine defense witnesses and to argue in favor of conviction of the criminal accused. In the U.S. criminal defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. It is, therefore, the burden of the state, and the prosecutor, to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the defendant is guilty of the crime for which he is accused.

Prosecutors may also provide quasi-legal advise to local police departments in order to help uncover additional aspects of the criminal act that otherwise might have been overlooked by law enforcement professionals.

Prosecutors in the U.S. are given a decision-making power known as prosecutorial discretion. "Prosecutorial discretion is the decision making power of a prosecutor based on the wide range of choices available to them, in the handling of criminal defendants, the schedualing of cases for trial, the acceptance of negotiated pleas, and ... the power to charge or not to charge a person with an offense."^[1]

Soviet Union

In the Soviet Union, the highest functionary of the Office of the Public Procurator was known as "Public Procurator" from 1936. After 1946, the office was called Procurator General of the USSR.

People's Republic of China

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

The Supreme People's Procuracy is the highest office of public procurators in Vietnam.

Institutional independence

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). This relationship theoretically, and in some cases practically, leads to situations where the public accuser will either falsely charge people (in Putin's Russia), or refuse to charge arrested persons at all, to keep them in protracted legal limbo, if that serves political aims. Many thinkers feel such outcomes are incompatible with basic human rights and constitutional ideals.

In a smaller number of countries, the hierarchy of prosecutors are installed with the same - such as Brazil - or nearly the same liberties which the judges traditionally enjoy. They're only responsible to the parliament, and the chief prosecutor is usually elected for a long period (seven years typically), or even a lifetime. In terms of political theory, this would mean the independent prosecution becomes the fourth column in the architecture of power separation, besides the legislative, executive and judicial branches.

In practice, such establishment often results in heated political debates, as new governments regularly accuse the reigning chief prosecutor of being "informally grateful" to the political opposition (i.e. the former parliamentary majority which elected him/her for a period extending multiple parliamentary cycles). In Hungary, the new government created the method of "private accusing" in 2003 as a response, 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. If a reviewing judge agrees with the private accusing, a judge selected from another court district will hold the trial and force a prosecutor to represent the charges. Such creations may hurt the scheme of separation of powers more than they remedy problems of alleged or existing bias. In Brazil, there's a similar provision which transfers the power to prosecute to the crime victim if, and only if, the prosecutor in charge of the case fails to make a decision to file or drop the charges in the deadline established by the penal procedure code. Although contested by some, this provision is often thought of as a welcomed form of public control of the prosecutor's office activities.

References

• MAZZILLI, Hugo Nigro. Regime Juridico do Ministério Público, 5ª edição, São 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 Expériences 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 http://www.larchivio.org/xoom/raoulirish.htm
• http://www.larchivio.com/diritto.htm
• Erick MAUREL Paroles de procureur ( ed.GALLIMARD 2008 - PARIS - ISBN 978-2070119776 )
• Schmalleger, Frank, Criminal Justice: a brief introduction,5th ed. 2004 : (ISBN 0-13-140776-7)

notes

External links

• www.prosecutor.info indexes almost 2,900 prosecutor web sites throughout the USA and other countries.
• www.ProsecutorTips.com Free trial advocacy tips for prosecutors and trial
  
• Summaries of Recent U.S. Criminal Law Decisions

Europe

M.E.D.E.L European association of judges and public prosecutors
CCPE Consultative council of European prosecutors

See Also

1. District Attorney
2. U.S. Attorney
3. U.S. Attorney General

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