Director of Public Prosecutions

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

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. Previosly he was the Tasmanian Director of Public Prosecutions. He has a keen interest in fishing, and is a collector of hats.

Each state and territory has their own DPP. The Office of DPP operates independently of Government. They can be researched on the internet.

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, the AG still retains the ultimate authority, and may (but very rarely does and even then at the risk of great political comment) overrule the decisions of the DPP with respect to prosecutions. - This paragraph is quite wrong.

For example in South Australia the AG has only overruled the DPP once in the last twenty years.

It is common for those who hold the office of Commonwealth or State DPP to later 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, Brian Martin as Chief Justice of the Northern Territory, and Greg James as a Justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales. Greg James was never a DPP or even a Deputy DPP in NSW.

Canada

In Canada, each provinces (or territories') Crown Attorney Office (Canada) is responsible for criminal cases. In Ontario, local Crown Attorney in the Criminal Law Division are in charge of criminal cases.

Quebec , a civil code jursdiction, uses the Director of Public 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

Hong Kong

The Director of Public Prosecutions of Hong Kong heads the Prosecutions Division of the Department of Justice, which is responsible for prosecuting trials and appeals on behalf of Hong Kong, providing legal advice to law enforcement agencies, exercising on behalf of the Secretary for Justice to bring criminal proceedings, and providing advice and assistance to bureaux and departments in relation to any criminal law aspects of proposed legislation.

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.

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.

United Kingdom

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.

Northern Ireland

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

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.

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

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