In the Family Court of Western Australia, an online form exists to commence such proceedings which can be downloaded, completed and filed.
In 2022, gambling lobby group ClubsNSW brought a private prosecution for contempt of court against comedian and journalist Friendlyjordies and whistleblower Troy Stolz.
[6]: 10–11, 13 A committee chaired by Mr. Justice Allen Linden of the Law Reform Commission of Canada produced a Working Paper on Private Prosecutions in 1986.
If a private Information is officially submitted, the Crown Counsel can, at any juncture, direct a stay of proceedings, especially if the charge does not meet the assessment criteria.
Furthermore, the Crown Counsel assesses for potential conflicts of interest or issues of confidentiality concerning the accused in the private Information.
But if the private prosecution or the referral to the investigating judge is regarded as abusive, the plaintiff may be sentenced to pay damages to the accused and a civil fine to the state.
Private prosecutions remain possible in the Republic of Ireland, though only at the District Court level where less serious offences are heard before a judge only.
The continuing existence of the right to private prosecution was confirmed in 2013 in the decision of the case Kelly & anor -v- Ryan ([2013] IEHC 321).
[14] They often work to get the location of a trial moved to a more neutral court, outside the influence of local power brokers, and to prepare the necessary legal petitions and other documents.
[17] Private prosecutions are permitted under the Code of Judicial Procedure of 1942, chapter 20, section 8, provided the individual has locus standi, i.e. is the direct victim of a crime (or, in the case of murder or manslaughter, a close relative) and that a public prosecutor has officially declined to proceed.
For serious crimes private prosecutions are rare, with a man accused of absconding and murdering a boy, whose body was never found, being convicted for false imprisonment to a prison term in 1985, but acquitted of the more serious charge of kidnapping in a 3-2 verdict.
The procedure and its aftermath, with alleged serial killer Thomas Quick being convicted for the murder on the basis of a confession a few years later, led to accusations of a substantially higher bar for relatives and private-employed lawyers processing prosecutions, as compared to a public prosecutor presenting the same evidence.
The English system was based on the principles of individual and local prosecution in which the right of the private citizen was paramount.
[22][23] The exception to this norm was in offences where the victim was the Crown, and the Attorney-General and the Solicitor-General represented the prosecution at state trials; for an example, see the 1637 ship money tax protest case of John Hampden.
In 1880, Sir John Maule was appointed to be the first Director of Public Prosecutions, operating as a part of the Home Office.
Prior to its termination in 1933, criminal prosecution required a true bill of indictment from the grand jury, and so frivolous and vexatious proceedings were designed to be avoided at this stage (although this did not turn out to be the case in practice).
In reaching this decision, it must balance the public good against a duty to preserve an individual's right to prosecute under the 1985 act.
The latter rule was abrogated in certain circumstances of "new and compelling evidence", and for a limited range of the most serious offences such as rape, armed robbery and murder, by the Criminal Justice Act 2003.
Recommended by Blunkett, Irvine and Goldsmith,[24] this change is permitted by the optional Article 4 of the Seventh Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights, although the United Kingdom is not a party to it.
Private prosecutions are rare in Scots law and require special circumstances surrounding the crime to be evident.
[25] 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.
In Alabama, a citizen or "victim" who has probable cause to believe that a crime has been committed can directly go to court and sign an arrest warrant before a magistrate, without the police or a judge's approval.
[34] In Georgia, criminal proceedings may be initiated at the request of a private citizen, but only after the defendant is given an opportunity to argue why he or she should not be charged.
[37] Private citizens can however file and attest misdemeanor arrest warrants which if accepted by a judge or magistrate would be automatically transferred to a prosecuting attorney.
[42] In 2002, a federal district court concluded in Kampfer v. Vonderheide that private prosecutions were barred under New York law as a violation of the defendant's due process rights.
Ohio state law allows private citizens to file an affidavit to support criminal charges.
State law was further amended in 2006 to bar judges from issuing arrest warrants in private prosecution cases.
There have been calls for restoring the practice of private prosecution, especially in cases of official misconduct, where judges, public prosecutors, and the police act in concert to violate the law.
Okagbue writes that the most useful control against such abuses is the power of the court to refuse to allow the case to proceed where it is of the opinion that there is not enough evidence to support the charge.