Careers in Prosecution: An Overview
Attorneys who choose to work in a prosecutor’s office usually have a passion for criminal justice. Many are also eager to appear in court and try cases. Criminal justice reform and a commitment to preserving civil rights are topics that are at the forefront of discussions taking place in many prosecutors’ offices around the country. If you want to be a prosecutor, you will be able to identify prosecutors’ offices organized around the mission of achieving fairness and justice.
Prosecutors are found at the local, state, and federal levels of government. State and local crimes are typically prosecuted by district attorneys’ offices and/or the criminal division of state attorney generals’ offices, as described more fully below. In larger cities, a municipal authority may be vested with authority to prosecute certain crimes, particularly against juveniles. Federal crimes are prosecuted by attorneys who work for the US Department of Justice (DOJ). These attorneys may work directly for the DOJ, mostly in Washington, DC (Main Justice), while other attorneys who serve as prosecutors work for one of the 94 US Attorney’s Offices (USAOs) that are located throughout the country (including US territories such as the Virgin Islands). While federal, state and local prosecutors have much in common, the types of matters they handle can be quite different.
Prosecutors have a huge amount of responsibility and discretion, and therefore the District Attorneys who are appointed or elected to office, and the US Attorneys who are appointed by the President, want to be sure that the Assistant District Attorneys (ADAs) and Assistant US Attorneys (AUSAs) that are hired have the maturity and judgment to perform their duties ethically and responsibly. For this reason, the vetting process for ADAs and AUSAs – and for legal interns and clinic externs in their office – often is both lengthy and vigorous.
- Federal Prosecutors: Main Justice and Assistant US Attorneys
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The DOJ is responsible for prosecuting all federal crimes, and includes Main Justice (the term used to describe DOJ headquarters in Washington DC), and the 94 USAOs throughout the country. Most criminal cases handled by Main Justice are prosecuted by the Criminal Division, which has sections specializing in terrorism and fraud, among other areas. The Tax, Civil Rights, and Antitrust Divisions of Main Justice also handle some criminal prosecutions. The Antitrust Division also has some regional offices that handle criminal prosecutions only.
A note about USAO and Main Justice hiring: US Attorney’s offices do not engage in hiring of 3Ls. Some will occasionally hire attorneys who have only a year or two of clerkship experience. The Criminal Division in Main Justice, however, usually does some 3Ls hiring through the Honors Program. To learn more about the SLIP and USDOJ Honors Program, students should consult the DOJ portion of our website here.
- State and Local Prosecution Counterparts
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Assistant Prosecutors/Assistant District Attorneys
District attorneys’ offices are typically organized by county. These offices have primary authority over prosecuting all state and local crimes that occur within their jurisdictions. The larger district attorneys’ offices often have specialized units that focus on areas such as cybercrime, homicide, drugs, domestic violence, and appellate litigation. Most ADAs or assistant prosecutors interact with police officers, crime victims, and crime witnesses. ADAs generally carry large caseloads, especially early in their careers. In a few smaller states (e.g., Rhode Island), typical local prosecution work is carried out by Assistant Attorney Generals.In addition, in some localities, the authority to prosecute a particular type of crime may also be vested in and exercised by a government agency other than the district attorney’s office. For example, attorneys who work in the Family Court Division of the New York City Law Department are responsible for prosecuting juveniles accused of acts that would constitute crimes if they were committed by adults. Some of the benefits of working as an ADA include having a lot of responsibility early in your career, having the opportunity to appear in court on a regular basis, and handling a great number of cases from inception to conclusion. ADAs typically get more trial experience than other prosecutors. Entry-level ADAs usually start out by handling misdemeanors and “simple” non-felony cases, and then graduate to handling more complex cases and felony prosecutions and, for some, cases that involve lengthy investigations. ADAs may be vested with significant prosecutorial discretion early in their careers.
Assistant State Attorneys General
While often authorized by statute to prosecute street crimes, most state Attorney Generals’ (AG) offices do not prosecute the day-to-day matters handled by the local police. Instead, most Assistant Attorneys Generals (AAGs) supplement the work of ADAs by taking cases that DA’s offices may not have the resources or expertise to handle. For example, a DA’s office may handle insurance fraud committed by an individual against one entity, but a state AG’s office may conduct a long- term investigation into a large-scale insurance fraud ring, and then handle the resulting prosecution. Some areas that AG’s offices focus on include large frauds, Medicare and Medicaid fraud, environmental protection, consumer frauds, and organized crime. More complex internet investigations and data privacy cases are more likely to be handled by State AGs, while cases of individual identity theft are more likely to be handled by ADAs. Unlike a DA’s office, which exclusively enforces criminal laws through criminal prosecutions, an AG’s office can use civil processes, including enforcement statutes and remedies, in addition to criminal processes. For example, an AG’s office may file a civil action predicated on consumer protection and/or civil rights laws in order to impose fines and sanctions on an entity that engages in discriminatory lending practices. There are a few state AG offices - usually in smaller states - such as Rhode Island that do prosecute day-to-day matters handled by the local police.
