How does a district attorney decide which criminals to go after?
A district attorney or prosecutor has the discretion to decide which crimes should be charged. In a typical scenario, the police investigate a crime and send a report to the prosecutor. The prosecutor then must decide whether to bring criminal charges against the subject of the investigation. The first thing the prosecutor looks for is a legally sound case. The case must not have any obvious defects that will get it thrown out of court, such as violation of the defendant’s constitutional rights or destruction of evidence crucial to the defense. The prosecutor next decides if there is reliable evidence of the person’s guilt. The prosecutor must determine that the amount of evidence, and the quality of evidence, makes conviction probable. Finally, the prosecutor decides if the case fits in with the office’s policy objectives. If pre-trial diversion is available, such as an agreement by the defendant to undergo drug treatment in return for a suspended sentence, the prosecutor may prefer t
