NCJ Number
132982
Journal
Judicature Volume: 75 Issue: 1 Dated: (June-July 1991) Pages: 20-23
Date Published
1991
Length
4 pages
Annotation
While sharing an abiding commitment to freedom of the press, the duties of the prosecutor do not encompass the exposure of suspected criminal activities for exposure's sake, but are confined to the presentation of legally admissible evidence to a judge and jury in open court.
Abstract
To achieve the continued impartiality and integrity of the country's criminal justice system, the prosecutor's role is to produce "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth" through legally admissible evidence inside court but, outside the, court to maintain his/her findings forever in a closed file. The prosecutor has the legal and professional obligation to pursue criminals only within the restraints that protect the defendant's rights and the integrity of the process. Regardless of pressures exerted in the name of "the right to know," the prosecutor's task excludes exposing wrongdoing that does not rise above the threshold of provable violations of specific laws. Disclosures from Department of Justice files on ongoing criminal investigations can compromise the very integrity of cases that may be prosecuted in the future, and determination to prevent such disclosures derives from a constitutional imperative.