Constraining Prosecutorial Discretion: Reading Group
Fall term, Block L
W 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Professors Philip B. Heymann and Alan M. Dershowitz with Mr. Stephen Heymann
1 classroom credit LAW-44451A
This reading group will address the problems arising from the vast amount of unconstrained discretion vested in prosecutors. Despite some laws and rules restricting the choices made in this most important position in our system of justice, the remaining discretion as to whom to charge and what is the appropriate sentence to seek leaves the prosecutor free to pursue convictions and harsh sentences in ways hard to defend in principle. Some examples are: threatening sentences the prosecutor regards as excessive to obtain pleas or cooperation; charging only some suspects guilty of the same crime for reasons of politics or policy or to make an example; and making extravagant undercover offers or payments to informants. Then there is the even less visible discretionary decision not to charge those who should be prosecuted.
We will explore what boundaries to constrain uses of prosecutorial discretion would be consistent with confidence in our system of justice.