- Published: December 12, 2021
- Updated: December 12, 2021
- University / College: University of California, Davis
- Language: English
- Downloads: 5
Week 3 paper
Add “ COMPSTAT” AND “ PREDICTIVE POLICE”
The courtroom workgroup is a mechanism for prosecution discretion. A prosecuting attorney has power on various matters including those relating to choosing whether or not to bring criminal charges, deciding the nature of charges, plea bargaining and sentence recommendation. This discretion of the prosecuting attorney is called prosecutorial discretion. The court room work group consists of ten members. The Judge, Bailiff, court reporter, witness, defendant, prosecutor, defense counsel, clerk of the court, jury, spectators and the press. There aren’t many ways that the courtroom work group can interact, the main three ways are these; Three interaction techniques that are frequently utilized are unilateral decisions, adversarial proceedings, and negotiations.
The prosecutor’s role is to protect the rights of the public. The prosecutor represents the entire community, attempting to ensure their safety from the wrongful actions of criminals. “ Prosecutors usually determine whether to file a case based on whether they think they can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant is guilty of an offense” (Cota, A. 2012) . “ Prosecutors have limited resources so that they cannot possibly pursue every single case they are presented. Although I am not privy to their decision making process, I imagine they select cases based on their strength and merit, and the potential benefit for the public” (Mashal, R. 2012).
If the criteria for taking a case were less stringent then cases would not be put forth based on evidence. This would make the prosecutor’s job more intense because they would have to prove a case without any evidence. The jurors would be going off assumptions and not proof. A lot of cases will be thrown out because of insufficient evidence and a lot of guilty people could walk free or vice versa innocent people could be wrongfully accused.
Cota, A. (2012). . Retrieved from http://www. avvo. com/legal-answers/how-does-a-prosecutor-determine-which-cases-to-pur-629493. html
