SUSS Criminal Law Seminar Series: The Ethics of Prosecution

About

In Singapore the discretion to prosecute or not to prosecute is vested in the Attorney-General as Public Prosecutor. The A-G cannot consider every single case. In practice, these decisions are taken by the Deputy Attorneys-General, the Solicitors-General, the Chief Prosecutors and ultimately by the line Deputy Public Prosecutors. There are also departmental prosecutors in some Ministries. Finally, it is possible in certain cases for a private prosecution to be instituted.

This talk will deal with the matters that have to be considered when a decision to prosecute or not to prosecute is taken. A good prosecutor must decide in accordance with the law. But often there are issues of policy involved in these decisions. The ethical dimension of prosecutorial decisions is important.

An understanding of how prosecutorial decisions are made is useful not only for prosecutors but also for defence counsel, civil lawyers and even the lay public.