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Crown Prosecutor
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Crown Prosecutors are the public prosecutors in the legal system of Australia.
Crown Prosecutors represent the Crown in right of the Commonwealth and in right of each State or Territory in criminal proceedings. There are similarities between this role and the Procurator Fiscal in Scotland, Crown Prosecutor in England and Wales, Crown Attorneys in Canada and District Attorneys in the United States. Crown Prosecutors are not elected and not public servants; they are private counsel briefed by the Director of Public Prosecutions for particular cases. Their mixed caseload as prosecutor and defence counsel, with the consequent ability to see both sides, is widely seen as an advantage of the system.
Both the Commonwealth and the Australian States and Territories can make criminal laws under the Constitution of Australia, so Crown Prosecutors deal with both state and federal offences. The typical Crown Prosecutor, often a Queen's Counsel, will have extensive experience as defence counsel as well as prosecuting counsel.