Talk:Prosecutor

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My dream is to become a prosecutor, can you help me?

You have to go to law school first and get good grades in classes in criminal law, criminal procedure, advanced criminal law, legal writing and research, advanced legal writing and research, etc. Then you have to pass the bar exam. Good luck. --Coolcaesar 23:53, 29 October 2005 (UTC)

Contents 1 Globalize 2 Separation of powers 3 Need answers? 4 More examples

[edit] Globalize

Though there are examples from common law and civil law states there should be examples from outwith the western world too I fell. Davidkinnen 00:25, 8 January 2006 (UTC)

I don't think they gave me enough information on almost anything. I want to know more about lawyers because thats what I want to do when I grow up.

What kind of responsibilities does a prosecuting attorney have?

Good point. The article needs to be clearer about what exactly prosecutors do.

Basically, when a crime occurs, the police investigate it and write up a report. They then turn over their report and any corroborating evidence to the prosecutor. The prosecutor then determines whether there is sufficient evidence to file any charges. In some U.S. states the prosecutor has to present the evidence to a grand jury, which returns an indictment against the suspect; in others (including most Western states where low population density made it hard in the past to convene grand juries), the prosecutor merely presents a document called an "information" to a judge who certifies that there is probable cause that the suspect committed the crime and orders that the suspect must be held over for trial.

If no charges are filed, the suspect is let go. If charges are filed and the suspect is held for trial (or ordered to return and allowed to bail out of jail), then the prosecutor then goes through the various steps of pretrial discovery. In most cases, the defendant will agree to plead guilty to a lesser charge and then he can serve a lesser sentence. In a small number of cases, the defendant will consistently maintain his innocence and then the case will go to trial. At trial, the prosecutor presents the evidence against the suspect to the jury (or judge, if the suspect waives jury trial) and tries to persuade the jury to convict the suspect. The prosecutor also recommends a sentence to the judge.

Oddly, one of the funny things about our system in the U.S. is that while counsel in civil cases can sometimes follow the case up on appeal, practically all criminal appeals are handed off to appellate specialists on both sides of the case. So then appellate attorneys are handed a file and they have to sort out the mess that happened at trial. --Coolcaesar 23:05, 25 May 2006 (UTC)

The whole thing needs reworking. There should be a head article with some neutral name like Prosecuting authority with a discussion of different models. Alan 19:02, 18 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Separation of powers

The article does not address the issue of independence for the public accuser's office. If the prosecutors are subordinate to the government, there is no true democracy as they will accuse or refuse to accuse people as the politics wants. Only where the prosecutors enjoy the same liberties as judges (respond only to the parliament) can people be secured against unfounded crime accusations and lenghty trials or lack of trials during which they remain locked in prison. Here in Hungary, where I live, the constitutional court declared the public accuser administration is as independent as the judicary brach. We look in horror at what US Attorney General does to keep Gitmo people in legal limbo just because the GWB government wants so. That is worse than prearranged trials in communist countries. It is easy to see why the fully independent accuser is the true fourth column of the separation of powers. 195.70.32.136 11:56, 18 June 2006 (UTC)

In the United States, district attorneys are separate from the rest of the executive branch at the local level. That is, they are directly elected by the people independently of the other executive branch officials. This leads to weird situations where the district attorney sues the county government and vice versa. For example, Ventura County here in California has wasted over $1.6 million on an embarrassing lawsuit between the district attorney's office and the county government (search Google News and a lot of articles about this ongoing fiasco will come up). So we do have full independence of the prosecution at the local level (where the vast majority of crimes are prosecuted) but, I agree with you, not necessarily at the state and federal levels (where the AGs are appointed directly by the chief executive). --Coolcaesar 18:26, 18 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Need answers?

What questions does the prosecutor ask in court when theres a case about domestic violence?

Thank you, "357" —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 66.75.81.155 (talk) 03:45, 20 March 2007 (UTC).

Wrong page. Try Wikipedia:Reference desk. --Coolcaesar 04:20, 20 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] More examples

Could you guys add more examples on the prosecutor role in other countries. Brazil's information seems to be good and conclusive but there are some such as Germany that I didn't understand better how is the role of the prosecutor in the country. Also, there are no citations for US, UK and lots of other coutries. I suggest a revision, maybe a table. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Alvarossjunior (talk • contribs) 01:20, 27 March 2008 (UTC)