Director of Public Prosecutions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Law of England and Wales This article is part of the series: Courts of England and Wales

Administration Department for Constitutional Affairs Lord Chancellor Her Majesty's Courts Service

Civil courts Privy Council House of Lords Lords of Appeal in Ordinary Court of Appeal Master of the Rolls Lord Justice of Appeal High Court of Justice Chancellor of the High Court President of the Queen's Bench President of the Family Division High Court judge County Courts District Judge

Criminal courts House of Lords Lord of Appeal in Ordinary Court of Appeal Lord Chief Justice Lord Justice of Appeal High Court of Justice President of the Queen's Bench High Court judge Crown Court Circuit Judge Recorder Magistrates' Court District Judge Justice of the Peace

Criminal justice Attorney General Director of Public Prosecutions Crown Prosecution Service

Barristers and solicitors Bar Council Barrister Law Society of England and Wales Solicitor Solicitor Advocate

The Director of Public Prosecutions is the officer charged with the prosecution of criminal offences in several criminal jurisdictions around the world.

Contents 1 Australia 2 Canada 3 Hong Kong 4 Republic of Ireland 5 Republic of South Africa 6 United Kingdom 6.1 England and Wales 6.2 Northern Ireland 6.3 Scotland 7 See also 8 External links

[edit] Australia

Australia has a Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions, which was set up by the Director of Public Prosecutions Act 1983 and started operations in 1984. The nine States and territories of Australia also have their own DPPs. The Australian Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions is Damian Bugg QC, who gained the position as a result of his successful prosecution of Martin Bryant with regards to the Port Arthur Massacre case in 1996. Prior to that, he was the Tasmanian Director of Public Prosecutions.

Each state and territory has their own DPP. The Office of DPP operates independently of Government. Ultimate authority for authorising prosecutions lies with the Attorney General. However, since that is a political post, and it is desired to have a non-political (public service) post carry out this function in most circumstances, the prosecutorial powers of the AG are normally delegated to the DPP.

However, in South Australia, the AG may direct the DPP to prosecute or not to prosecute. This is a very rare occurrence.

It is common for those who hold the office of Commonwealth or State DPP later to be appointed to a high judicial office. Examples include Mark Weinberg, now a Federal Court Judge, and Michael Rozenes, now Chief Judge of the County Court of Victoria and Brian Martin as Chief Justice of the Northern Territory.

[edit] Canada

In Canada, each province's Crown Attorney Office (Canada) is responsible for the conduct of criminal prosecutions. In Ontario, local Crown Attorney in the Criminal Law Division are in charge of criminal cases.

Only British Columbia, Nova Scotia and Quebec (a civil code jurisdiction) have a Director of Public Prosecutions office.

In the three northern territories, the Federal Prosecution Service, forming part of the Department of Justice, has control of criminal prosecutions.

For federal cases, a senior general counsel (Criminal Law) is assigned from the Federal Prosecution Service or FPS, an office of the Attorney General of Canada. FPS is based in Ottawa, Ontario.

Recent legislation passed by Parliament split the conduct of federal prosecutions from the Department of Justice (Canada), and created the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (officially to be called as Public Prosecution Service of Canada). This legislation came into effect December 12, 2006. Brian Saunders is acting director and former assistant deputy attorney general of the Criminal Law Branch.

[edit] Hong Kong

The Director of Public Prosecutions of Hong Kong, China heads the Prosecutions Division of the Department of Justice, which is responsible for prosecuting trials and appeals on behalf of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, providing legal advice to law enforcement agencies on investigations, acting on behalf of the Secretary for Justice in the institution of criminal proceedings, and providing advice to bureaux and departments on measures to reform the criminal. The DPP is superintended by the Secretary for Justice, who is also accountable for the decisions of the DPP.

The current DPP is I Grenville Cross,QC,SC, who was appointed in 1997, shortly after China resumed the exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong.

[edit] Republic of Ireland

The Director of Public Prosecutions has been responsible for prosecution, in the name of the People, of all indictable criminal offences in the Republic of Ireland since the enactment of the Prosecution of Offences Act 1974. Before 1974 all crimes and offences were prosecuted at the suit of the Attorney General. The DPP may also issue a certificate that a case should be referred to the Special Criminal Court, a juryless trial court usually reserved for terrorists and organised criminals.

The current DPP is James Hamilton.

[edit] Republic of South Africa

In South Africa public prosecutions are conducted by an independent National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP). The current NDPP, Vusi Pikoli, is head of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA). His predecessor, Bulelani Ngcuka resigned his position in the wake of an unsuccessful smear campaign against him involving supporters of convicted fraudster Schabir Shaik.

The NDPP is supported by a Chief Executive Officer, Marion Sparg, Deputies, regional Directors of Public Prosecutions (DPP's), and several Special Directors. The National Director is also head of the controversial Directorate of Special Operations (DSO) - commonly known as the Scorpions - which deals with priority and organized crime. In 2005, the unit instituted proceedings against the country's Deputy President, Jacob Zuma, leading to his dismissal.

[edit] United Kingdom

[edit] England and Wales

In England and Wales, the office of Director of Public Prosecutions was first created in 1880 as part of the Home Office, and had its own department from 1908. The DPP was only responsible for the prosecution of a small number of major cases until 1986 when responsibility for prosecutions was transferred to a new Crown Prosecution Service with the DPP as its head. He/she is appointed by the Attorney General for England and Wales.

The current DPP is Sir Ken Macdonald, QC.

[edit] Northern Ireland

In Northern Ireland a similar situation existed, and the DPP now heads the Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland.

The current DPP is Sir Alasdair Fraser,CB,QC.

[edit] Scotland

Scotland has a different legal system: Scots law. The public prosecutor is the Lord Advocate who heads up the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. All investigations by the police are nominally under the direction of the Lord Advocate and local Procurators Fiscal, and all prosecutions are carried out in the name of the Lord Advocate.

[edit] See also

• Attorney General - Commonwealth and United States
• District Attorney - United States
• Crown Attorney - Canada

[edit] External links

• www.eatoncounty.org/prosecutor/pa-world.htm — indexes DPP web sites throughout the world
• The National Prosecuting Authority of South Africa (NPA)
• The Crown Prosecution Service — website of public prosecution in England and Wales
• Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions — website of the Irish Director of Public Prosecutions
• Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions — website of the Australian federal Director of Public Prosecutions