Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2010
Journal
University of Chicago Legal Forum
Volume
2010
Issue
1
First Page
265
Last Page
297
Abstract
In an era of scarce public resources, many jurisdictions are being forced to take drastic measures to address severe budgetary constraints on the administration of criminal justice. As prosecutors' budgets around the nation are being scaled back and enforcement capacities are being narrowed, one conceivable response is the outsourcing of the criminal prosecution function to private lawyers. Indeed, prosecution outsourcing currently is utilized in surprising measure by jurisdictions in the United States.
This Article, prepared for the University of Chicago Legal Forum Symposium on Crime, Criminal Law, and the Recession, argues that the outsourcing trend in criminal justice-seen most prominently in the area of private prisons and policing-should not extend to criminal prosecution because such outsourcing is in tension with the constitutional and positive law norms regulating the public-private distinction. Furthermore, concerns about ethics, fairness, transparency, accountability, performance, and the important values advanced by the public prosecution norm all militate against the outsourcing of the criminal prosecution function to private lawyers.
Recommended Citation
Roger Fairfax,
Outsourcing Criminal Prosecution?: The Limits of Criminal Justice Privatization,
2010
University of Chicago Legal Forum
265
(2010).
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/facsch_lawrev/2015