NCJ Number
181215
Journal
British Journal of Criminology Volume: 38 Issue: 3 Dated: Summer 1998 Pages: 371-387
Date Published
1998
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This article examines public prosecution and the need to reconcile the difficult issues of prosecutorial independence and accountability, discusses institutional mechanisms through which democratic countries try to balance these two values, and examines the characteristics of public prosecution in Italy.
Abstract
Both independence and accountability are important elements of the proper exercise of prosecutorial functions. However, it is difficult to achieve a workable balance between these two needs. Solutions established recently include private prosecution in England and Spain, the possibility of asking a judge in Germany to order that criminal proceedings be initiated, and the development of written rules to establish priorities that prosecutors must observe in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. Other approaches include provisions intended to protect public prosecutors from the use of indirect pressure in France, Italy, Portugal, and Spain and the creation of special independent agencies to prosecute high-level public officials in the United States. A trend to redress the balance in favor of prosecutorial independence seems to be gaining momentum in several countries. However, the Italian case demonstrates the need to preserve prosecutorial accountability. Italy has ignored the need to render prosecutorial discretion accountable and therefore has delegated to a totally independent prosecutor the definition of a good part of its criminal policy. This situation has produced many dysfunctional consequences for the efficient control of crime and for the effective and equal protection of civil rights. Footnotes and 23 references (Author abstract modified)