Criminal Justice: Discussing the Number of Cases a Prosecutor Handles per year and its Consequences (Research Paper Sample)

Criminal Justice
Name of Student
Institutional Affiliation
Number of Cases the Average Prosecutor Handles Per Year Compared to the Recommended Number
In 1968, the department of justice created a national commission to study the problem of excessive caseload a public defender can handle. The commission then came up with a recommendation that the defenders should not handle more than one hundred and fifty felonies or four hundred misdemeanors in any given year. These recommendations were later adopted by criminal justice, academic commentators and the American Bar Association. Despite the endorsed recommendation being far from perfect, majority of people agree to the recommended number as it ensures the defense counsel have adequate time to look into the case they are devoted to. In the United States, there have been more than 2300 offices for prosecutors, although with fewer number of prosecutors handling excessive workloads. (Gershowitz, A. M., & Killinger, 2011).
Reasons why recommendations were made
Recommendation had to be made since so many cases were pending to which prosecutors were handling as they were fewer prosecutors who were handling excessive work load. Also, the rate at which new prosecutors were being appointed was low and it was therefore endangering the ability of criminal justice department to meet the state's obligations of ensuring that fair justice is given to all.
Importance of Adequate Support Staff for the Prosecutor Office
It is important to have adequate prosecutors to prevent backlogs in our courts. This will prevent defendants who are unable to raise bail from being incarcerated for long as prosecutors shall have time to focus on their case hence speeding up court hearings. This will also prevent overcrowding of jails for defendants waiting for trials hence saving the country money in terms of taxpayer's money. (Lefstein, N,2011)
Moreover, adequate prosecutor staff ensures that there is ample time and resources to assess the cases well to determine which defendant is guilty and which one is not. This will ensure that innocent victim are not harmed and only the guilty one are punished. This gives the prosecutor the time to hear from the victim and get factual information so that he/she can convict the guilty. (Lefstein, N,2011)
Finally, having adequate prosecutors protects the public interests and prevents the general public from harm. This gives time for defenders to acquire enough evidence to prove the defendants guilty who may be of harm to the general public if he/she is released due to lack of enough evidence.
Why Little Attention has Been Paid to the Overburdening of Prosecutors
First, prosecutors unlike indigent defenders lack publicity and litigation options even if they showed interest in filing a complaint that they were doing excessive workload since they don't have requisite of a controversy and case. Most of the time the prosecutors who have excessive workload are not willing to file a complaint case for fear of victimization by their senior unlike the indigent defenders who have nothing to lose. Most of the time lawyers that are appointed have freedom to file litigation and are prone to play the role of activist through media and the press. (Green,2013)
Moreover, there has been academic negligence when it comes to prosecutorial caseloads. There is no academic interest that tries to address this menace. Most academics incline in criminal defendants than prosecutorial caseloads hence making them liberal. (Moore, Sandys, M., & Jayadev,2015)
Measures that should be taken to address this Issue
It is clear that excessive case load harms the public, victims and defendants and for this reason, overcoming such problem is hard. One of the measures to curb such problem will be to give necessary fund to the criminal justice system. This can only be achieved if the affected public defenders and prosecutors come up with a c...