Evolving Role of the Public Prosecutor

Victoria Colvin is a lecturer at the School of Law, University of Wollongong. She completed her doctorate at the TC Beirne School of Law, University of Queensland, in 2017. From 2001–2009, she was a prosecutor with the Criminal Justice Branch of the Attorney General of British Columbia, Canada. Philip Stenning is an Adjunct Professor in the Griffith Criminology Institute at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia, a Visiting Professor in the Law School at Leeds University in the UK and an Honorary Professor in the School of Applied Human Sciences at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. His published books include Appearing for the Crown: A Legal and Historical Review of Criminal Prosecutorial Authority in Canada (1986), The Modern Prosecution Process in New Zealand (2008) and, with David Bayley, Governing the Police: Experience in Six Democracies (2016).

• Introduction - Philip Stenning, Victoria Colvin and Heather Douglas Part One: The Office of the Modern Public ProsecutorChapter 1: Decoding Hegemony: Exploring the Discourse of a Prosecuting Elite - Robyn HolderChapter 2: New Public Management, Citizens’ Fears and Calls for Justice: The Prosecutor’s New Role in Italy - Cecilia BlenginoChapter 3: Deferred Prosecution Agreements: Negotiating Punishment Before Conviction? - Simon BronittChapter 4: The Public Prosecution Service and the Structuring of Sentencing: The Nordic Case of Denmark - Rasmus WandallPart Two: The role of prosecutors in investigationsChapter 5: The Role of the Finnish Prosecutor in Preliminary Investigations – Efficiency or the End of Impartiality? - Julia JanssonChapter 6: Framing Prosecutor-Police Relations in Europe - A Concept Paper - Philip Stenning and Julia JanssonChapter 7: Police prosecution and access to justice for people with disabilities - Penelope WellerChapter 8: Roles of Lawyers and Investigators in Investigations of International Crimes - Melanie O’BrienPart Three: The nature and extent of prosecutorial discretionChapter 9: The Riddle of Prosecutorial Discretion - Victoria ColvinChapter 10: Prosecuting Domestic Violence Cases: Listening to Victims - Heather DouglasChapter 11: Prosecutorial Discretion about Special Measure Use in Australian Cases of Child Sexual Abuse - Jane Goodman-Delahunty, Natalie Martschuk, Martine Powell and Nina WesteraChapter 12: Community Prosecution Code Enforcement in Dallas, Texas: Effects on Serious Crime - John Worrall, Andrew Wheeler, and Justine MedranoPart Four: Prosecutors, politics and accountabilityChapter 13: Prosecution and Politics in Germany: The Struggle for Independence - Michael JaschChapter 14: Prosecutorial Independence and Effectiveness of the Nigerian Criminal Justice System - Adedeji AdekunleChapter 15: The Decision to Prosecute – The Accountability of Australian Prosecutors - Kellie TooleChpater 16: Regulating the Prosecutorial Role in Wrongful Convictions - Kent RoachConclusion - Victoria Colvin and Philip Stenning