Community Prosecution

David Bruce Taylor

Community prosecution is an emerging philosophy that redefines the role of the prosecutor as problem solver rather than case processor. It places prosecutors out on the streets with citizen groups to identify problems facing neighborhoods and then to work with community members, police, and other local agencies to determine how best to allocate resources and to develop a broad range of solutions. To understand community prosecution, it is necessary to locate it within the broader philosophy of community justice. The 1960s were marked by a series of urban uprisings and civil disobedience that reflected a growing distrust of government and the criminal justice system. As a response to this breakdown in community relations, police departments developed a series of reforms to return officers into the community. These reforms had various labels: team policing, problem-oriented policing, and, more recently, community policing. Some innovations, such as team policing, were abandoned, although the ...

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