prosecutor

The prosecutor is the chief legal representative of the prosecution in countries with either the common law adversarial system, or the civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the case against an individual suspected of breaking the law in a criminal trial.

Prosecutors are typically lawyers who possess a law degree, and are recognized as legal professionals by the court in which they intend to represent the state (that is, they have been admitted to the bar).

They usually only become involved in a criminal case once charges need to be laid or have already been. They're typically employed by an office of the government, with safeguards in place to ensure such an office can successfully pursue the prosecution of government officials. Often, multiple offices exist in a single country, due to the various legal jurisdictions that exist.

Being backed by the power of the state, prosecutors are usually subject to special professional responsibility rules, in addition to those binding all lawyers. For example, in the United States, Rule 3.8 of the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct requires prosecutors to "make timely disclosure to the defense of all evidence or information ... that tends to negate the guilt of the accused or mitigates the offense."

In Australia, Canada, England and Wales, Hong Kong, Northern Ireland, Southern Ireland and South Africa, the head of the prosecuting authority is typically known as the Director of Public Prosecutions, and is appointed, not elected. A DPP may be subject to varying degrees of control by the Attorney General, usually by a formal written directive which must be published.

In Australia, at least in the case of very serious matters, the DPP will be asked by the police, during the course of the investigation, to advise them on sufficiency of evidence, and may well be asked, if he or she thinks it proper, to prepare an application to the relevant court for search, listening device or telecommunications interception warrants.

More recent constitutions, such as South Africa's or Fiji's, tend to guarantee the independence and impartiality of the DPP.

In the United States, the director of any such offices may be known by any of several names depending on the legal jurisdiction.

The terms County Attorney, Prosecuting Attorney (in Michigan, Indiana, and West Virginia), County Prosecutor, State Attorney, State's Attorney, State Prosecutor, Commonwealth's Attorney (in Virginia and Kentucky), District Attorney, District Attorney General (in Tennessee), City Attorney, City Prosecutor, and Circuit Attorney (in Missouri) are all titles of prosecutors in various state courts. State prosecutor may be either appointed or elected. United States Attorneys represent the federal government in federal court, in both civil and criminal cases.

These offices shouldn't be confused with Corporation Counsel, who typically handles only civil matters involving monetary damages, and does not handle criminal prosecutions.