Public prosecutor's office: Difference between revisions

Content deleted Content added

Inline

Latest revision as of 19:03, 28 May 2024

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.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+[[File:Prokuratura by Augustas Didzgalvis.jpg|thumb|Lithuanian public prosecutor's office in [[Vilnius]]]]
-The '''Staatsanwaltschaft''' or [[Public prosecutor|public prosecutors']] offices are [[criminal justice]] bodies attached to the [[judiciary]] but separate from the courts in [[Germany]], [[Austria]] and the German-speaking parts of [[Switzerland]]. This kind of office also exists in [[China|Mainland China]], [[Taiwan High Prosecutors Office|Taiwan]] and in some countries in Central Europe including Slovakia, Slovenia and the Czech Republic, as well as [[Macau]], which continues to follow the Portuguese legal system.
+{{Short description|Authority responsible for law enforcement and prosecution service}}
+{{more citations needed|date=May 2020}}
+'''Public prosecutor's offices''' are [[criminal justice]] bodies attached to the [[judiciary]].
-==Germany==
-[[File:Staatsanwaltschaft München I - Dienstgebäude außen.JPG|thumb|Staatsanwaltschaft München I.]]
-In Germany, the police have an obligation to investigate every single crime reported and subsequently send all investigations to the ''Staatsanwaltschaft''. The public prosecutor, the ''Staatsanwalt'' ([[State Attorney]]), reviews the findings of the police and decides whether to indict the accused or halt the proceedings.
+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}}).
-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 offences 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 undertake investigations themselves or can request the police to do so and 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 examine the evidence. The investigating judge only reviews the legality of the interrogation or inspection and must comply with the prosecutor’s request as long as it is legal.
+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]].
-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 to have been 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 at an early stage 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". However, instead of the legal principle of the maxim "[[in dubio pro reo]]" (Latin: "benefit of the doubt", see [[presumption of innocence]]) which applies to judges, the maxim for the prosecution is [[:de:In dubio pro duriore|in dubio pro duriore]], that is presumption of guilt. The reason for this is that the courts would be stripped of their proper role if in case of a doubt there were not even a trial, and because proof may yet be found within the trial. Still, 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 or before suggests he or she is innocent. Naturally the defense's opinion often differs from that of the prosecution in this matter.
-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:Judiciary of Germany]]
+[[Category:Law enforcement]]
 [[Category:Prosecution]]
+{{law-enforcement-stub}}
+{{law-stub}}