Prosecutorial Discretion

Prosecutor’s Discretion
Name
Institution Affiliation
Professor
Course
Date
Prosecutor’s Discretion
Prosecutor's discretion allows each prosecutor to sift through evidence, evaluate their admissibility, and assign evidentiary weight to them. However, prosecutors' discretion is limited by law but remains wide in scope. Judicial review is when a court reviews a decision made by the prosecutor and can either approve it or overturn it. If the court determines that the decision was inappropriate, it can reverse it, limiting the prosecutor's authority. This effectively limits a prosecutor's discretion, preventing them from making decisions without being held accountable. This paper will discuss how other powers can limit prosecutors' power.
In addition, prosecutorial discretion may be limited by the guidance and recommendation of the legislature. Different states may enact laws and legislation with guidelines on how prosecutors may conduct their discretion. The recommended guidelines may contain considerable details and different commentaries on how a prosecutor may conduct discretion. Thus, it contains evidence of whether the prosecutor may prosecute or prevent them from posting charges of a particular crime. These guidelines hinder the prosecutor's freedom to decide a particular case (Krug, 2002). In addition, the prosecutors must follow the guidelines, which presents a limitation in the criminal justice system. Further, the legislature may include other guidelines formulations that require the judge to select, such as isolation from overcharging exercises that may lead to the admission of a guilty plea. Nonetheless, most prosecutors prefer to work in a monopoly, which inhibits the functioning of such guidelines.
Secondly, the prosecutor’s discretion can be limited by the prosecutorial resources. For instance, the prosecutor could only file a case with specific and concrete evidence or specific facts that have been established in a trial. Once an arrest is made, the prosecutor analyzes the following to determine whether the case will move forward (Krug, 2002); Availability of enough evidence linking the suspect to the crime.
* Seriousness of the Crime.
* Size of the caseload in the court
* The need to conserve prosecutorial resources for more serious cases.
* The availability of alternatives to formal prosecution. ( (Krug, 2002)
* The defendant's guilt and criminal record
* The defendant's willingness to cooperate with the investigation or prosecution of other criminals
Further, the prosecutor determines the required resources to pursue a case, and limited budgeting limits the prosecutor’s decision to make a ruling ( (Krug, 2002). In addition, limited resources encourage a backlog of cases which results in cases taking a long amount of time to be decided.
Third, office policies and procedures limit prosecutors’ discretion. This means that every sworn prosecutor is obliged to follow certain rules and office ethics when conducting their duties. For instance, in New Jersey, USA, an office of professional standards ( OPS) exists that determines how individuals behave and conduct themselves in the case of a hearing (New Jersey State Parole Board,n.d ). Further, OPS ensur...