ECON 1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Reasonable Suspicion
Document Summary
The extent to which the police and the prosecution service can divert cases from the criminal justice system depends primarily on the legal basis for the discretionary power of the police and the prosecution service. The legal basis is based on two principles: the procedural legality principle s. 151 gccp. : this provides that the prosecution service cannot exercise any discretion over the decision to prosecute. Hence, prosecution must take place in all reported cases in which there is sufficient evidence of a suspect"s guilt, and in which no legal hindrances stand in the way of prosecution. However, in practice, exceptions do exist in allowing the prosecutor to have some discretion over the case (petty crimes, alternatives to prosecution, a de facto). The rationales for such principle are equality before law, general deterrence and proper law enforcement. If prosecution does not take place it is either non-prosecution or other alternatives: the opportunity principle: this does not require compulsory prosecution.
