Prosecutors Desk 8-3-1015

The prosecutor has the responsibility to make decisions regarding whether or not to file a charge. When a report comes in from a law enforcement agency, our first task is to consider whether or not there has been a violation of the law. The next is to consider whether or not there is sufficient proof of the violation. The next consideration is whether or not a charge should be filed.

We sometimes decline to prosecute a case because the proof is lacking even though we are certain who is responsible. The justice system is about being able to prove what happened, not about what is believed to have happened- without proof. Under our system, the State must prove the charge beyond a reasonable doubt before a person may be punished.

There are cases when there has been a violation and it can be proved who is responsible but we decline to prosecute because the harm is minimal.
On the other hand, we may decide to prosecute a case when the proof is weak, but the harm is great. Sexual offenses against children are an example of these types of cases. We may try to obtain a conviction even though the chance of success may not be very good.

There are times when there has been a technical violation of the law, but a charge should not be filed. For example, if a restraining order says one party should stay 1000 feet away from another, and they pass on the highway or run into each other in a store, there is a violation, but no charges should be filed. Common sense must be applied to the situation.

We may also decline to prosecute because we believe the conflict is really civil in nature and the parties have remedies available to them in civil courts.
Not every disagreement between two people is something for the criminal justice system. Custody matters between two people who no longer care for each other and want to punish each other is an example. They want the criminal system to work out the difficulties between them rather than going to civil courts and dealing with the issue.

Often people choose to exercise what I call their constitutional right to be bad neighbors. (It is not really in the Constitution), But it appears they try to be as difficult as they can. When two people living next to each other are alike in this way, there will be trouble. The basic simple rule is still true, if people treated each other the way they would like to be treated, many bad situations would not occur.

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