How Prosecutor shape justice (Term Paper Sample)

The parties involved and the criminal justice pre-trial procedure Name: Institution: Date: Introduction Any criminal justice system comprises of a series of processes before it's subjected to a full trial. This include investigations and arrest by the police, the charging and plea bargaining procedure by the prosecutor and the indictment by the grand juries (Worrall, 2007). In this respect the prosecutor is the only player who is entrusted by the government to ensure that law is enforced and justice is administered (Siege, 2012). The prosecutor has at his/her disposal heightened authority to determine whether the charged criminal face a full trial or not. To add to this, he/she is also mandated to carry out a plea bargaining process which determines the path a case follows. He/she does this through the immense uncontrolled powers bestowed upon him/her especially the power of discretion which he/she exercises to his/her will (Davis, (2001). These raise the question of credibility for a criminal case. Can justice really prevail if the prosecutor is influenced by other factors like political, personal or otherwise when deciding whether to charge or not? The responsibilities of the prosecutor in the criminal justice process The core role of a prosecutor is to decide whether or not to prosecute the criminal and also to file charges. The prosecutorial discretion allows him/her to decide solely based on the evidence presented to him by the police. Indeed he is the anchor of the entire criminal ‘ship'. To start with, the prosecutor has two special responsibilities bestowed by the state which include the charging decision power and the plea bargaining powers (Worrall, 2007). As a result of these responsibilities he relies on evidence and information given by the police to decide whether to prosecute the accused or not as long as long as he/she feels that there is substantial evidence to prove that the defendant committed a crime (Siegel, 2007). Subsequently upon filing charges, the prosecutor uses at his/her disposal the plea bargaining powers to reduce or drop some charges, lessen some sentences of the charges in the exchange of pleading guilty offer of not contesting on the side of the defendant, in addition the prosecutor determines which charges to file, whether to drop the case or not and the punishment for those charges according to the law (Siegel, 2012). It is at this stage that the prosecutor again solely decides to engage a defense attorney with the hope of reaching the above charge agreements that prevents a full trial of the case to occur. This means that the prosecutor along with the defense lawyer can easily dispose a case if they reach a workable agreement, a move which can be detrimental to administration of justice (Vollenberg, 1981). In this respect, justice rest on the hands of the prosecutor who decides without limitation of powers the direction a case takes (Worrall, 2007). However, if a felony has been committed and the prosecutor has enough evidence, he/she proceed to engage a grand jury who determined whether or not to indict the defendant. In his jurisdiction the prosecutor present the evidence before the grand jury either in writing or by engaging the subpoenas to present their testimonies (Worrall, J. 2007). The role of the grand jury A grand jury is comprised of 23 jurors who determine whether the case presented by the prosecutor in line with the evidence deserves an indictment. However this move may only serve to formalize the prosecutor's recommendations as the grand jury relies so much on the information presented by the prosecutor. Instead of merely accepting the prosecutors evidence a grand jury is mandated to carry out further investigations to substantiate the credibility of indictment. It does this through asking the witness to testify before the jurors and also fathers more evidence which guides their decision. (Worrall, J. 2007). This investigative process by the grand jury is very paramount especially when the case is of public interest and careful decisions must be made. Unfortunately, the prosecutor is the legal advisor of most grand juries, a move that deter any amendments to be made in to the criminal cases (Worrall, 2007). There are also strict regulations during grand juries proceedings, prohibits the defense attorney and the defendant to participate, further they are not informed when it is taking place and they can't therefore justify themselves and only accepts the decision of the grand jury, whether fair or not . This move only reinforces the prosecutors view in charging the criminal case; the only key player allowed is only the witnesses of the case. Grand juries are usually private and very discreet affairs sand out of bound by the public (Siegel, 2012). The secretive nature is engineered to safeguard the whole process ...