The power to prosecute is one of the greatest powers modern society entrusts to a public servant. The mission of a prosecutor is to seek justice not simply zealously advocate one legal position or another. This is a higher calling in the law and those who hold such Office should be compelled to recognize the considerable responsibility that their position vests within them.
Prosecutors have at their fingertips the power of the State's law Enforcement apparatus, which is considerable and the decision to prosecute or refrain from prosecuting should not be abdicated, taken lightly or based upon extraneous considerations, such as personal advantage or advancement.
Far too often prosecutors don't do their jobs or surrender the pursuit of justice to political considerations. Understand that politicians write the laws and they cannot be enforced in a vacuum. Laws by there very nature are political. One of the balances in our system of governance granted to the Courts to interpret the law in it's application. The Office of the Prosecutor in the criminal realm is where the rubber meets the road.
Given the propensity for abuse one of the great failings of our criminal justice system is the failure to hold Prosecutors accountable. Far to often they operate above the Law and without regard for the impact of their decision making on victims and the accuses alike.
I was thinking of this when I ran across the case of Ken Anderson, Prosecutorial misconduct . This case is illustrative of the destructive power that a prosecutor possesses particularly when unchallenged. We in the Law need to do more to assure that prosecutors are held responsible for their misdeeds and that their conduct is observed and evaluated regularly.
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