Victim and the Prosecutor (From Hearing the Victim: Adversarial Justice, Crime Victims and the State, P 141-162, 2010, Anthony Botttoms and Julian V. Roberts, eds. - See NCJ-231063)

• NCJ Number: 231069
• Author(s): John Spencer
• Date Published: 2010
• Length: 22 pages
• Sale Source: Willan Publishing
• Publication Format: Book Chapter
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom

Annotation

This chapter examines the relationship between the victim and the prosecutor and explores the differences between the adversarial model and the partie civile system used in various continental jurisdictions.

Abstract

During the first half of the 19th century, England and Wales gradually acquired professional policemen, but not professional prosecutors resulting in the police taking over the job of prosecuting. All this radically changed in 1986 with the creation of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). With the creation of the CPS, citizens and victims were denied any official right to participate in a public prosecution. An official barrier was erected between the victim and the new decisionmakers, namely the CPS. After examining this adversarial relationship between victim and prosecutor, the legal steps available to victims to make sure the CPS takes notice of their interests are examined. The essay continues with an examination of how well the current regime of unenforceable duties towards the victim actually works in practice, and whether his or her position is really any worse than it is in countries where, unlike in England and Wales, the victim has a legally enforceable right to participate in a public prosecution. Notes and references