View of Justice (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 95-107, 1988, J.E. Hall Williams, ed. -- See NCJ-118587)

• NCJ Number: 118595
• Author(s): P Sieghart
• Date Published: 1988
• Length: 9 pages
• Sale Source: Gower Publishing Co
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom

Annotation

The responsibility of the prosecutor under the new Crown Prosecution Service is examined in five areas: investigation of crimes, decision to charge, pre-trial procedures, trial, and post-trial.

Abstract

Now that the Crown Prosecutor is the police officer's master and no longer his servant, much will depend on the kinds of police relationship that the new independent prosecutors will develop in the course of their mutual interaction. The laying of initial charges under the new system remains with the police, but some old practices and motivations must be shed under the new system. The adversarial nature of the criminal process in Britain has in the past placed major temptations before police and prosecutors during pre-trial, trial, and post-trial procedures. The status of Crown Prosecutors with reference to their accountability is discussed.