Incorporating the 'Public Interest' in the Decision to Prosecute (From Role of the Prosecutor -- Report of the International Criminal Justice Seminar held at the London School of Economics and Political Science, January 1987, P 30-42, 1988, J E Hall Williams, ed. -- See NCJ-118587)

• NCJ Number: 118590
• Author(s): A Sanders
• Date Published: 1988
• Length: 13 pages
• Sale Source: Gower Publishing Co
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom

Annotation

This paper concentrates on the difficulties of involving the public interest and evidential sufficient criteria in the decision to prosecute.

Abstract

The Code for Crown Prosecutors lists a number of criteria for determining when it is in the public interest to prosecute, but these are often in conflict. It is suggested that the institutional structure within which prosecution decisions take place does not allow prosecutors (or the police) to take public interest factors into account systematically and consistently. The author cites the absence of any clearly stated view of the public interest in relation to adults. He suggests that one way of equalizing the treatment of different classes of crime and criminals is for the Crown Prosecution Service to be responsible for all criminal offenses and to apply the same criteria to all.