5.7 Courtroom Players: Prosecutors

Prosecutors play a pivotal role in the criminal justice system, and work closely with law enforcement, judges, defense attorneys, probation and parole officers, victims services, human services, and to a lesser extent, jail and other correctional staff. The authority to prosecute is divided among various city, state and federal officials. City and state officials are responsible for prosecutions under local and state laws, and federal officials for prosecutions under federal law. As discussed in the previous sections, prosecutors are one of the most powerful actors in courtroom workgroup, a fact evidenced in this speech by former Supreme Court Associate Justice Robert Jackson, while he was the U.S. Attorney General, addressed the Conference of United States Attorneys (federal prosecutors) in Washington, D.C. on April 1, 1940:

“The prosecutor has more control over life, liberty, and reputation than any other person in America. His discretion is tremendous. He can have citizens investigated and, if he is that kind of person, he can have this done to the tune of public statements and veiled or unveiled intimations. Or the prosecutor may choose a more subtle course and simply have a citizen’s friends interviewed. The prosecutor can order arrests, present cases to the grand jury in secret session, and on the basis of his one-sided presentation of the facts, can cause the citizen to be indicted and held for trial. He may dismiss the case before trial, in which case the defense never has a chance to be heard. Or he may go on with a public trial. If he obtains a conviction, the prosecutor can still make recommendations as to sentence, as to whether the prisoner should get probation or a suspended sentence, and after he is put away, as to whether he is a fit subject for parole. While the prosecutor at his best is one of the most beneficent forces in our society, when he acts from malice or other base motives, he is one of the worst. …”

The boxes below describe the roles of prosecutors at the state and federal level.

Selection and Qualifications of Prosecutors 

Most local prosecuting attorneys are elected in a partisan election in the district they serve. State attorney generals may also have significant prosecutorial authority. They are elected in forty-two states (including Louisiana), appointed by the governor in six states, appointed by the legislature in one state, and appointed by the state supreme court in another. State attorney generals serve between two- to six-year terms, which can be repeated. Federally, senators from each state recommend potential U.S. Attorney nominees who are then appointed by the President with the consent of the Senate. U.S. Attorneys tend to be of the same political party as the President and are usually replaced when a new President from another party takes office.

Prosecutor’s Function 

Prosecutors arguably have more discretion than any other official in the criminal justice system. They decide whether to charge an individual or not.  Much has been written about the prosecutor’s broad discretion and the constraints on his or her discretion.  If they choose not to prosecute, this is referred to as nolle prosequi, and this decision is largely unreviewable. Spohn and Hemmens (2012, p. 123) concluded in their review of the studies on prosecutors’ charging decisions that “these highly discretionary and largely invisible decisions reflect a mix of (1) legally relevant measures of case seriousness and evidence strength and (2) legally irrelevant characteristics of the victim and the suspect”.

Prosecutors guide the criminal investigation and work with law enforcement to procure search and arrest warrants. Following an arrest, prosecutors continue to be involved with various aspects of the investigation. Their role includes meeting with the arresting officers, interviewing witnesses, visiting the crime scene, reviewing the physical evidence, determining the offender’s prior criminal history, making bail and release recommendations, appearing on pretrial motions, initiating plea negotiations, initiating diversions (pre-trial contracts between the government and the defendant which divert cases out of the system), working with law enforcement officers from other states who seek to extradite offenders, preparing the accusations to present to the grand jury, calling witnesses and presenting a prima facia case (i.e., presenting enough evidence which, when unrebutted by the defendant, shows that the defendant committed the crime) at a preliminary hearing, representing the state at arraignments and status conferences, conducting the trial, and, upon conviction, making sentencing recommendations while representing the state at the sentencing hearing.

In many communities, the prosecutor is the spokesperson for the criminal justice system and appears before the legislature to recommend or oppose penal reform. Prosecutors make public speeches on crime and law enforcement, take positions on requests for clemency for cases they have prosecuted, and work extensively with victims’ services offices, which may be an arm of the prosecutor’s office. In some communities, the prosecutor is also responsible for representing the local government in civil matters and may represent the state in civil commitment proceedings and answer accident claims, contract claims, and labor relation matters for the county.  However,  only a few counties have prosecutors who still perform this function. U.S. Attorneys still have substantial responsibilities for representation of the U.S. government in civil litigation, and there is generally a civil division, a criminal division, and an appellate division of the U.S. Attorneys office.

The American Bar Association (ABA) standards indicate that “the prosecutor’s [ethical] duty is to seek justice”. This means that the state should not go forward with prosecution if there is insufficient evidence of the defendant’s guilt or if the state has “unclean hands” (for example, illegally conducted searches or seizures, or illegally obtained confessions). Ethical and disciplinary rules of the state bar associations govern prosecutors, who must also follow state and constitutional directives when they prosecute crimes.