Brace yourself for the greatest prosecutorial discretion event in history

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American Thinker:

February 29, 2016

Brace yourself for the greatest prosecutorial discretion event in history

By James Longstreet

As Barack Obama finishes his final year, his attorney general, in all likelihood, will execute the greatest instance of prosecutorial discretion in the history or our nation.

 

Prosecutorial discretion refers to the fact that under American law, government prosecuting attorneys have nearly absolute powers. A prosecuting attorney has power on various matters including those relating to choosing whether or not to bring criminal charges, deciding the nature of charges, plea bargaining and sentence recommendation. This discretion of the prosecuting attorney is called prosecutorial discretion.

 

Prosecutorial discretion has also been described as a type of legal “triage.” When the ability or capacity to prosecute is curtailed or restricted, the cases that are the most egregious are moved to the top the list, and those less so are dismissed, thus the discretion. (In traffic court, there are ten speeders and only the capacity to prosecute five. Those over the speed limit to the greatest degree are prosecuted.)