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Director of Public Prosecutions

The Director of Public Prosecutions is the officer charged with the prosecution of criminal offences in several criminal jurisdictions around the world.

Australia

Australia has a Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions, which was set up by the Director of Public Prosecutions Act 1983 and started operations in 1984. The nine States and territories of Australia also have their own DPPs. The Australian Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions is Chris Craigie SC.

Each state and territory has its own DPP. The Office of DPP operates independently of Government. Ultimate authority for authorising prosecutions lies with the Attorney General. However, since that is a political post, and it is desired to have a non-political (public service) post carry out this function in most circumstances, the prosecutorial powers of the AG are normally delegated to the DPP.

However, in South Australia, the AG may direct the DPP to prosecute or not to prosecute. This is a very rare occurrence.

It is common for those who hold the office of Commonwealth or State DPP later to be appointed to a high judicial office. Examples include Mark Weinberg, now a Federal Court Judge, and Michael Rozenes, now Chief Judge of the County Court of Victoria and Brian Martin as Chief Justice of the Northern Territory.

Canada

In Canada, each province's Crown Attorney Office is responsible for the conduct of criminal prosecutions. In Ontario, local Crown Attorney in the Criminal Law Division are in charge of criminal cases.

Only British Columbia, Nova Scotia, and Quebec (a civil code jurisdiction) have a Director of Public Prosecutions office.

Recent legislation passed by Parliament split the conduct of federal prosecutions from the Department of Justice, and created the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (officially called the Public Prosecution Service of Canada). This legislation came into effect December 12, 2006. Brian Saunders is acting director and former assistant deputy attorney general of the Criminal Law Branch. The PPSC has control of criminal prosecutions in the three northern territories, and also conducts prosecutions for offences under federal Acts (including offences relating to drug-dealing, organized crime, terrorism, and various regulatory matters).

Hong Kong

The Director of Public Prosecutions of Hong Kong, China heads the Prosecutions Division of the Department of Justice, which is responsible for prosecuting trials and appeals on behalf of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, providing legal advice to law enforcement agencies on investigations, acting on behalf of the Secretary for Justice in the institution of criminal proceedings, and providing advice to bureaux and departments on measures to reform the criminal law. The DPP is superintended by the Secretary for Justice, who is also accountable for the decisions of the DPP.

The current DPP is I Grenville Cross,QC,SC, who was appointed in 1997, after China resumed the exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong.

Ireland

The Director of Public Prosecutions has been responsible for prosecution, in the name of the People, of all indictable criminal offences in the Republic of Ireland since the enactment of the Prosecution of Offences Act 1974. Before 1974 all crimes and offences were prosecuted at the suit of the Attorney General. The DPP may also issue a certificate that a case should be referred to the Special Criminal Court, a juryless trial court usually reserved for terrorists and organised criminals.

The current DPP is James Hamilton.

Republic of South Africa

In South Africa public prosecutions are conducted by an independent National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP). The current NDPP, Vusi Pikoli, is head of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA). His predecessor, Bulelani Ngcuka resigned his position in the wake of an unsuccessful smear campaign against him involving supporters of convicted fraudster Schabir Shaik.

The NDPP is supported by a Chief Executive Officer, Marion Sparg, Deputies, regional Directors of Public Prosecutions (DPP's), and several Special Directors. The National Director is also head of the controversial Directorate of Special Operations (DSO) - commonly known as the Scorpions - which deals with priority and organized crime. In 2005, the unit instituted proceedings against the country's Deputy President, Jacob Zuma, leading to his dismissal.

United Kingdom

England and Wales

In England and Wales, the office of Director of Public Prosecutions was first created in 1880 as part of the Home Office, and had its own department from 1908. The DPP was only responsible for the prosecution of a small number of major cases until 1986 when responsibility for prosecutions was transferred to a new Crown Prosecution Service with the DPP as its head. He/she is appointed by the Attorney General for England and Wales.

The current DPP is Sir Ken Macdonald, QC.