POLS 354 Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: United States Attorney General, United States Federal Judicial District
Document Summary
Two main functions - mainly after arrest. In most jurisdictions, there is more crime than a prosecutor can prosecute. Has to have policies that give priorities to some situations vs others. If i can"t win the case, i"m not going to prosecute. Not a just thing to go after someone if there isn"t enough evidence to prove guilt without a reasonable doubt. At any given time, the office will have certain demands on them that take ongoing resources. If there"s not a lot of crime happening, they"re more likely to choose to prosecute. Sometimes arrest alone is scary enough to keep someone from committing it again, so why prosecute. Crimes in the election cycle you wanna prosecute even if not that serious ie. prostitution right before your election. Broadly drawn statute that someone technically prosecuted but not worth prosecuting, doesn"t do anyone any good. Sometimes won"t take place if prosecutors yield to another jurisdictiona.
