Courts and Criminal Justice in America - Chapter 8

"[a]n who is the elected or appointed chief of a prosecution agency, and whose official duty is to conduct criminal proceedings on behalf of the people against persons accused of committing criminal offenses, also called 'district attorney,' 'da,' 'state's attorney,' 'county attorney,' and 'u.S. Attorney," and any attorney deputized to assist the chief prosecutor"

The head of the u.S. Department of justice and the chief law enforcement officer in the federal government; also, the chief law enforcement officer in each of the state and territorial-level governments

An attorney appointed by the president and serving under the direction of the u.S. Attorney general to supervise the attorneys and staff of the u.S. Attorney's office in each of the federal judicial districts

One of more than 5,600 subordinate attorneys assigned throughout the various offices of the u.S. Attorneys in the 94 federal judicial districts to perform the brunt of litigation work involving the federal government

The federal official charged with representing the government both in suits and appeals in the supreme court and in all lower federal trial and appellate courts in cases where the interests of the u.S. Government are at stake

The chief local (typically, county-level) prosecutor charged with bringing criminal cases to trial; also called county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth attorney, county prosecutor, district attorney general, county and prosecuting attorney, solicitor, or circuit attorney

The city-level official charged with providing legal services to other city-level agencies

A period in the evolution of the u.S. Criminal justice system that occurred in the early twentieth century and was marked by reform efforts aimed at removing corruptions and political favoritism from the criminal process

A model of criminal prosecution that consists of the elements of mission, source of authority, demand, organization, tactics, environment, and outcomes

An approach intended to improve cooperation and collaboration between prosecutors and individuals outside the criminal justice system (e.G., community members and business leaders); more formally, it is "An organizational response to the grassroots public safety demands of neighborhoods, as expressed in highly concrete terms by the people who live in them. They identify immediate, specific crime problems they want addressed and that the incident-based 911 system is ill suited (sic) to handle"

"[t]he decision of a prosecutor to submit a charging document to a court, or to seek a grand jury indictment, or to prosecute"

The practice of not dropping charges against domestic-violence victims that emerged as a response to the high rate of dismissals in domestic-violence cases; also called evidence-based prosecution

An informal or programmatic method of steering an offender out of the criminal justice system

The diversion of an offender out of the criminal justice system before he or she is charged

A delay in the actual in-court prosecution of an offender until the offender completes treatment or some other program