When a prosecutor is deciding whether a case should be prosecuted in the courts and charges should be filed against someone, prosecutors consider two important questions: Is it in the best interest of the public to proceed? And, is there a strong reasonable likelihood that there will be a conviction? If the answer to both are yes, then there is the task of deciding whether there is enough evidence to prosecute the case and whether the evidence is reliable and can it be used in court. This means carefully assessing the quality of the evidence from all related witnesses before reaching a final decision.
Grand jury indictments will be presented by the prosecutors only when and if a criminal case has not been diverted, downgraded, or dismissed. In order to compose a Grand jury citizens are selected from tax lists drivers license and voters registrations. In order to formally charge a person accused of a crime a prosecutor’s evidence is evaluated by a Grand jury to determine if that evidence is enough to support the prosecutor’s decision. Many states utilize grand jury’s to proceed with criminal and federal investigations, these investigations play an important role in the criminal process working hand in hand with prosecutors to decide on whether the evidence that has been presented is enough to charge or indict a person. “Grand juries are typically made up of 16 to 23 people and every felony case must be indicted by a grand jury unless waived by the accused. The purpose of the grand jury is not to determine guilt or innocence, but to decide whether there is probable cause to prosecute someone for a felony crime. The grand jury operates in secrecy and the normal rules of evidence do not apply. The prosecutor runs the ...
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...s important. Such situations allow criminals to be released back into society much too soon. The ultimate goal of the prosecutor should be to work cases that have enough evidence to establish every element of the crime in order to gain a successful conviction.
References
Chamblis, W.J. (1969). Crime and the legal process. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company.
Glaberson, William (2004, June 20). New Trend Before Grand Juries: Meet the Accused. The
New York Times. Retrieved April 7, 2014 from http://www.nytimes.com
http://www.uscourts.gov/FederalCourts/JuryService/about-jury-service.aspx
Heumann, Milton (1981). The Experiences of Prosecutors, Judges, and Defense Attorneys.
University of Chicago Press
Wright, R. (2013). Introduction to criminal law and procedure. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint
Education, Inc.
Jurors will thoroughly inspect and weigh over the evidence provided, and process any and all possible scenarios through the elements of crime. If the evidence does not support the prosecutor 's argument and the elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt, the jury must pronounce the defendant not guilty. If questionable or irrelevant evidence is included in the criminal proceeding, it is the duty of the prosecutor or defendant 's counsel to object and insist that the evidence be excluded by the presiding
Therefore, under these ethical standards, prosecutors cannot file charges if there is not enough evidence to support a conviction, they also do not file if it is not in the public interest to do so. This is what makes the possibilities limitless; however, three key factors also play a part in determining which cases to prosecute. If prosecutors follow these three factors in determining cases then the contradiction of limitless discretion and high ethical standards should be remedied for others. These are factors that should be followed are as followed: the seriousness and nature of the offense, the offender’s culpability, and the likelihood of being able to obtain a conviction at a trial. “Ethical conduct, then, must be the core of the prosecutor’s role in the criminal justice system” (Hemmens, Brody, & Spohn, 2013). Therefore, even though prosecutors have almost limitless discretion in their decisions, they still must
Prosecutorial misconduct is when a prosecutor wrongfully convicts a defendant based on information he or she may keep concealed from a judge and/or jury. Ask the average citizen, and they are totally unaware that such a thing ever happens. The public is often persuaded to believe that all prosecutors are honorable people who are committed to ethics, justice, and upholding the law. But prosecutorial misconduct and misdeeds happen, and they occur more frequently than anyone would imagine. Judge Konzinski, stated to the Washington Post, “Prosecutorial misconduct is a particularly difficult problem to deal with because so much of what prosecutors do is secret. If a prosecutor fails to disclose exculpatory evidence to the defense, who is to know? Or if a prosecutor delays disclosure of evidence helpful to the defense until the defendant has accepted an unfavorable plea bargain, no one will be the wiser.” No wonder society is naive to the prosecutorial misconduct that transpire
There is a system of codes and tests set up to ensure that the law is properly applied known as The Code of Crown Prosecutors and The Full Code Test, issued by the Director of Public Prosecutions. It consists of The Pace Codes, and two stages of The Full Code Test called The Evidential and Credible Test, and The Public Test. The Evidential test is the first stage in deciding whether to prosecute or not. The prosecutors ensure that the right person is prosecuted for the right offence and that offenders are brought to justice wherever possible. Their decision is based on whether there is realistic prospect of conviction by considering the availability (witness available), admissibility and reliability...
When it comes to the vague ethics rules and finding effective ways to create a set of clearer ethical standards, legalistic approaches should be taken. Legalistic approaches began in the early 1900’s with the first set of ethics rules, the 1908 Canons. The 1908 Canons stated the primary duty of a prosecutor is to seek justice. The 1908 Canons method failed due to the lack of clarity concerning in depth what the prosecutor’s ethical obligations were. Another remarkable approach was the 1969 Model Rules, which made operational progress in defining the ethical duties of a prosecutor which established a set of rules, but yet and still failed to address the ethical obligation of seeking justice (American Bar Association, 1983). If these legalistic approaches continue to advance and make suitable amount of progress, less failure will occur and eventually the goal of seeking justice will be reached. An effective method to alleviate the vast discretionary authority with little to no transparency would be to use a prosecutor’s handbook (Joy 2006). Both the American Bar Association Prosecution Function Standards and National District Attorneys Association make recommendation of using a prosecutor’s handbook. These written standards bring more awareness to prosecutors allowing them to know the limits of their authority and provides guidance on how to properly exercise discretion. At the last point, inadequate remedies which create incentive to prosecutorial misconduct rather than deter it can be solved by reformation (Caldwell, 2013). Within trial courts, when a prosecutor has fraudulently obtained evidence, the trial court does have to option to exclude the evidence in which has been affected by misconduct. This approach typically does not result in anything further than a verbal reprimand. There are no types of
What the Grand Jury does is rather simple, but a very necessary feature of the American court process. The purpose of the Grand Jury is “to determine whether there is enough evidence for the case to proceed to trial” (Miller, 2015). It makes perfect sense as to why the director of the film did not include this process, due to the fact that during the Grand Jury process, all of the evidence against the defendants gets presented to the judge (Miller, 2015). If the director were to present this as a scene in the movie, there would be no surprise as to what the prosecutor would produce as evidence, which for the film, would make it less suspenseful. This leads us into the next step, and that is the Discovery Process. In the movie, Vinny believes that he seduced Jim Trotter to give him his files on the case. Vinny was surprised at how easily he received the documents,until his fiancé (Mona Lisa Vito) tells him that the prosecutor had to share them with him, and this is part of the discovery process. The prosecution is legally bound to share its information with the defense.
Attorney, it’s important to ensure the protection of the victims and to punish the delinquents for
After a person suspected of murder has been the trial process begin. During this stage the police will give the evidence they have complied to the prosecution. The prosecution will make a determi...
Prosecutors, without doubt, are the most powerful and influential decision makers in the criminal justice system. The decisions they make on who will be charged with a crime or whether to accept a case at all, which charges to file, and various other vital decisions. When it comes to making these decisions, prosecutors possess the power to exercise their discretion at their choice without many limitations. Prosecutors, without doubt, are the most powerful and influential decision makers in the criminal justice system. The decisions they make on who will be charged with a crime or whether to accept a case at all, which charges to file, and various other vital decisions. When it comes to making these decisions, prosecutors possess the power to exercise their discretion at their choice without many limitations. In some cases, determining between life and death. While it is important that an individual in a position that has vast knowledge of the criminal justice system, such as a prosecutor, be able to make these decisions without bias or malicious intent. I do believe that too much of that
In contrast, grand juries are larger than petit juries and consist of 16 to 23 citizens. The purpose of a grand jury is to determine if there is probable cause to believe the individual has committed a crime and should proceed to trial (“Types of juries”, 2017) and are not public. In accordance with the Fifth Amendment, no individual shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise notorious crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury and is assured for certain offenses (Worrall,
I selected the state of Minnesota as one of many other states that use the grand jury. The rules of criminal procedure require grand juries for any crime punishable by life in prison, serious crimes (first-degrees) are life, not just premeditated; with or without parole is the difference and certain first-degree sex crimes. The state can submit other cases for public policy such as cases where a police officer causes a death while in the line of duty. All crimes punishable by life imprisonment or any homicide case where the prosecutor announces his or her intent to present to a grand jury must start within fourteen days of the defendant’s first court appearance. The use of grand juries in all other cases is optional or up to the discretion
Prosecutors, for many years, are empowered with making decisions about who to prosecute, how many years the defendant could get, who gets a plea deal, and who does not.
The prosecutor plays the most critical role in the criminal justice process before, during and after a trial. The prosecutor is involved in investigations, plea bargains, deciding the nature of the charges, and recommending sentences. Although it is not always the case, the main purpose of the prosecutor is to seek justice not to convict. They serve many functions
The three conditions that must be met in order for a prosecutor to charge a person with a crime or crimes is has a crime been committed, has a perpetrator been identified, and is there enough evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt in order to get a guilty verdict. A prosecutor has complete autonomy on deciding to prosecute a person. The prosecutor is the “most powerful actor in the administration of justice” (Bohm & Haley, 2011, p. 284).
Prosecutor’s duty is to seek justice, present the judge and jury with facts and sound legal arguments that result in the conviction of the guilty defendant and not conviction of the innocent as we have seen in many cases in the past. They have a duty also to disclose exculpatory evidence to the defense attorney (Burke, 2010. P. 2135). Prosecutors consist of the group of criminal justice professionals with no accountability for their professional action or deliberate inaction. They willfully manipulate facts and evidences in order to secure a conviction at all cost. They are driven, not by the desire to ensure justice, rather, they are fixated on winning by all means possible, to enhance their professional record of successes, measured by the number of cases they prosecuted that resulted in conviction. Schoenfeld (2005) thinks prosecutors’ “score-keeping mentality” or conviction psychology that compels them to win at all costs, is the reason for prosecutorial misconduct (Schoenfeld, 2005. P. 252). Morey, (2012) states, "prosecutorial misconduct stems from a 'win at all cost ' mentality underlying the desire to further a