Public prosecutor's office: Difference between revisions

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Public prosecutor's offices are criminal justice bodies attached to the judiciary.

They are separate from the courts in Germany, Austria and the German-speaking parts of Switzerland, and are called the Staatsanwaltschaft (German: [ˈʃtaːt͡sʔanˌvaltʃaft] ^ⓘ).

This kind of office also exists in Mainland China, Taiwan and Macau (which continues to follow the Portuguese legal system), and in some countries in Central Europe including Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Poland and the Czech Republic.

External links

This law enforcement–related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This law-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

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+[[File:Prokuratura by Augustas Didzgalvis.jpg|thumb|Lithuanian public prosecutor's office in [[Vilnius]]]]
-{{Copyedit|date=July 2009}}
+{{Short description|Authority responsible for law enforcement and prosecution service}}
+{{more citations needed|date=May 2020}}
-The '''Staatsanwaltschaft''' or [[Public prosecutor|public prosecutor's]] offices are [[criminal justice]] bodies attached to the [[judiciary]] but separate from the courts in [[Germany]], [[Austria]] and the German-speaking parts of [[Switzerland]].
+'''Public prosecutor's offices''' are [[criminal justice]] bodies attached to the [[judiciary]].
+They are separate from the courts in [[Germany]], [[Austria]] and the German-speaking parts of [[Switzerland]], and are called the '''Staatsanwaltschaft''' ({{IPA|de|ˈʃtaːt͡sʔanˌvaltʃaft|lang|audio=De-Staatsanwaltschaft.ogg}}).
-==Germany==
-[[File:Staatsanwaltschaft München I - Dienstgebäude außen.JPG|thumb|Staatsanwaltschaft München I.]]
-In Germany, the police have to investigate every single crime reported and consequently send all investigations to the ''Staatsanwaltschaft''.  The public prosecutor (''Staatsanwalt'' lit. [[State Attorney]]) reviews the police's findings and decides whether to indict the accused or halt the proceedings.
+This kind of office also exists in [[China|Mainland China]], [[Taiwan High Prosecutors Office|Taiwan]] and [[Macau]] (which continues to follow the [[Portuguese legal system]]), and in some countries in Central Europe including [[Slovakia]], [[Hungary]], [[Slovenia]], [[Poland]] and the [[Czech Republic]].
-The prosecutor’s office has (in theory) the duty to investigate and pursue any matter in its jurisdiction as soon as it learns that a criminal offence may have been committed (''Legalitätsprinzip''). However there are some offenses which require the victim to explicitly request prosecution (''Antragsdelikt''), other cases may be dropped due to "small guilt" or "non-importance" or the complainant may be told to prosecute on his own (common in [[defamation]] cases unless a [[Very Important Person|VIP]] is involved). Prosecutors are authorised to perform acts of investigation themselves or can request the police to do so.  The police are obliged to carry out such requests.  Moreover, prosecutors can order witnesses and expert witnesses to testify before them and can even ask an investigating judge (the ''Ermittlungsrichter'') to interrogate witnesses or to perform inspections of evidence.  The investigating judge only reviews the legality of the interrogation or inspection and must comply with the prosecutor’s request if it is legal.
-However, due to their superior manpower, training and experience, the [[Kriminalpolizei|police]] conduct the vast majority of criminal investigations on their own.  Cases are normally only turned over to the prosecutor’s office when they are considered solved or all leads have gone cold.  A prosecutor is usually only involved from the very beginning in [[homicide]] or serious [[white-collar crime]] cases.  Police also contact prosecutors when significant publicity is expected or they need help gaining a judicial arrest or [[search warrant]] etc., or when the ''Ermittlungsrichter'' is to interrogate a witness.
-In court, the approximately 5,200 public prosecutors in Germany are the prosecuting counsels.  Unlike judges, public prosecutors are civil servants and therefore subject to the orders of their superiors.
-In investigations and in court, the prosecution is supposed to be "objective" and "neutral". In German justice, the legal principle of the maxim "[[in dubio pro reo]]" (Latin: "benefit of the doubt") is deemed to apply to the court as well as the prosecution, so long as the evidence is not sufficient to judge the accused (see [[presumption of innocence]]). If potential evidences are not substantive for can using the German Criminal Code [[Strafgesetzbuch]] ("StGB") and further specific codes like the Controlled Substances Act ("BtMG": Betäubungsmittelgesetz) their listed paragraphs and interpretations, the defendant is to be seen as not guilty. It is (or should be) common for the ''Staatsanwaltschaft'' to request the acquittal of the defendant if the evidence that came to light in the courtroom suggests he or she is innocent. Naturally the defense's opinion usually differs from the prosecution's though.
-The next investigating criminal justice body above the Staatsanwaltschaft is according to the authorities of the separation of powers (''Legislative, Exekutive and Judicative'') of the German [[Grundgesetz]] the ''Generalstaatsanwaltschaft''.
 ==See also==
-* [[Prosecutor]]
+* [[Prosecution]]
+* [[Parquet (legal)]]
+* [[Public prosecutor's office (France)]]
+* [[Public prosecutor's office (Germany)]]
+* [[Public Prosecutors Office (Japan)]]
+* [[Public Prosecutors Office (Brazil)]]
+* [[Public Prosecutors Office (Honduras)]]
+* [[Crown Prosecution Service]]
+* [[Director of Public Prosecutions]] (in the Commonwealth)
 ==External links==
 * [http://www.euro-justice.com/member_states/germany/country_report/2787/ Eurojustice Report on Germany]
-* [http://www.euro-justice.com/member_states/austria/country_report/1362/ Eurojustice Report on Austria]
+* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120222233657/http://www.euro-justice.com/member_states/austria/country_report/1362/ Eurojustice Report on Austria]
+{{Authority control}}
-[[Category:Law enforcement in Germany]]
-[[Category:German law]]
+[[Category:Law enforcement]]
 [[Category:Prosecution]]
-[[cs:Státní zastupitelství]]
+{{law-enforcement-stub}}
-[[de:Staatsanwaltschaft]]
+{{law-stub}}
-[[lt:Prokuratūra]]
-[[fa:دادسرا]]