The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the case in a criminal trial against the defendant, an individual accused of breaking the law.
Prosecutors are typically lawyers who possess a law degree and are recognised as suitable legal professionals by the court in which they are acting.
Since the power of the state backs prosecutors, they are subject to special professional responsibility rules in addition to those binding all lawyers.
Prosecutors of minor criminal cases in lower courts are police sergeants with a traineeship in prosecution and advocacy lasting approximately one year in duration, although they may hold law degrees.
The prosecution landscape in England and Wales is highly varied, meaning that a prosecutor can refer to a number of different individuals and roles.
The finding that there is a realistic prospect of conviction is based on the prosecutor's objective assessment of the evidence, including the impact of any defence and any other information that the suspect has put forward or on which they might rely.
It means that an objective, impartial, and reasonable jury or bench of magistrates or judge hearing a case alone, properly directed and acting in accordance with the law, is more likely than not to convict the defendant of the charge alleged.
In some cases the prosecutor may be satisfied that the public interest can be properly served by offering the offender the opportunity to have the matter dealt with by an out-of-court disposal rather than bringing a prosecution.
Prosecutors must be satisfied that the material to be relied on at this stage is capable of being:[15] The Threshold Test must be kept under proactive and continuous review, and should only be used in rare and urgent circumstances.
[23] In England and Wales, there is a statutorily protected common law right for any person to institute a private prosecution.
The ongoing issues with private prosecutions outlined above has led to the Justice Select Committee calling for a closer examination of the process and regulation by government.
[29] It is usually practically difficult for an individual to bring a private prosecution given the high cost – estimated by the Ministry of Justice at £8,500 on average.
Other remedies are open to a prosecutor in Scotland, including fiscal fines and non-court based interventions, such as rehabilitation and social work.
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.
The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the case against an individual or a corporation suspected of breaking the law, initiating and directing further criminal investigations, guiding and recommending the sentencing of offenders, and are the only attorneys allowed to participate in grand jury proceedings.
[41] Prosecutors are most often chosen through local elections, and typically hire other attorneys as deputies or assistants to conduct most of the actual work of the office.
For example, the government must disclose exculpatory evidence to the defense;[42] must disclose matters affecting the credibility of prosecution witnesses, such as an agreement to dismiss the witness's own charges in exchange for their testimony;[43] must not destroy potentially useful evidence in bad faith;[44] and must not use false testimony to secure a conviction.
It is as much his duty to refrain from improper methods calculated to produce a wrongful conviction as it is to use every legitimate means to bring about a just one.
Prosecutors are typically civil servants who possess a university degree in law and additional training in the administration of justice.
The Prosecutor General of the Republic (Procurador Geral da República) heads the federal body, and tries cases before the Brazilian Supreme Court.
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.
Although empowered by law to do so, prosecutors conduct criminal investigations only in major cases, usually involving police or public officials' wrongdoings.
In Germany, the Staatsanwalt ("state attorney") is a life-tenured public official in the senior judicial service belonging to the same corps as judges.
The Staatsanwalt 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 the defense attorney.
They are obligated under the Constitution to initiate preliminary investigations once they are informed or take personal notice of a criminal act—notitia criminis—or receive a bill of complaint.
In Japan, Public Prosecutors (検察官, kensatsu-kan) are professional officials who have considerable powers of investigation, prosecution, superintendence of criminal execution and so on.
In many countries, the prosecutor's administration is directly subordinate to the executive branch (e.g., the United States Attorney General is a member of the President's cabinet).
In some other countries, such as Brazil or Italy, the prosecutors are judicial civil servants, so they have the same liberties and independence that judges traditionally enjoy.
[59] 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.