Politicians, prosecutors and police chiefs: The ecology of criminal justice oversight in the United States - CANCELLED

• In Event: Prosecution in the Making IV: The Institution of Justice: Prosecutors, Politics, and Legitimacy

Abstract

The role of prosecutors is often simplified and at times vilified but rarely fully understood (e.g. prosecutors as an extension of politicians or law enforcement, resistant to change, insulated from demands for more transparency). These issues have amplified long-standing debates about the model of professional identity that describes their work: Prosecutors are not in charge of upholding law (Judges) or protecting rights (Defense). Prosecutors play a different type of dual role in the criminal justice system as both “advocates seeking conviction and ‘ministers of justice’” (Fish, 2017; Fisher, 1987). To make sense of the evolving role of prosecutors and the dilemmas posed by the heightened visibility of their work and impact, this paper provides an overview of significant contributions to understand the work of prosecutors in the United States from a more actor-centered, “agonistic” perspective (Goodman, 2015) that 1) is sensitive to current practices, constraints, and demands 2) situates the role of prosecutors in a system (an “ecology” of CJ institutions), 3) considers dynamics of oversight in connection to a broader set of key social actors (politicians, police chiefs, and the public).

Authors

• Andres F. Rengifo, Rutgers University

• Don Stemen, Loyola University Chicago

• Luis C. Torres, Temple University