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The Public Prosecutor as Key-Player: Prosecutorial Case-Ending Decisions

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Abstract

This article presents the core issue of an 11 European countries study on the processes of diversion and prosecution with the public prosecutor as the key player. In consequence of a high workload large proportions of mass crimes are not brought before court, but are ended at earlier stages of criminal justice systems. Here the public prosecution service fulfils a selective function which differs from country to country according to its legal status and discretionary powers. Therefore the prosecutorial case-ending decisions in form of dismissal of proceedings, conditional disposals and penal orders can not be treated in isolation, but in dependence of its role within the whole criminal justice system and especially of the input from the police level.

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Notes

  1. For an overview of the EU member states see Tak (2005); for the design of the study see Jehle (2000, 2006, 2008); Jehle and Wade (2006); Wade (2006), for the different countries see Aebi and Balcells (2008); Aubusson (2006); Blom and Smit (2006); Bulenda et al. (2006); Elsner and Peters (2006); Gilliéron and Killias (2008); Hakeri (2008); Lewis (2006); Roth (2008); Tak (2003); Turkovic (2008); Zila (2006).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Criminology, Institute for Criminal Law and Justice at the Law Faculty of the University of Göttingen, Platz der Göttinger Sieben 6, 37073, Göttingen, Germany

    Jörg-Martin Jehle

  2. Research and Documentation Center (WODC) of the Ministry of Justice, P.O. Box 2031, 2500 EH, The Hague, Netherlands

    Paul Smit

  3. Faculty of Law, Stockholm University, 106 91, Stockholm, Sweden

    Josef Zila

Authors
  1. Jörg-Martin Jehle
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  2. Paul Smit
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  3. Josef Zila
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Correspondence to Jörg-Martin Jehle.

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Jehle, JM., Smit, P. & Zila, J. The Public Prosecutor as Key-Player: Prosecutorial Case-Ending Decisions. Eur J Crim Policy Res 14, 161–179 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10610-008-9078-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10610-008-9078-3

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