Private prosecution

A private prosecution is a criminal or Provincial offence case initiated by an individual or organization other than the state-funded prosecutor. In countries which allow such prosecutions, the procedure is typically used in circumstances where the public prosecutor believes the case not to be in the public interest. The public prosecutor may also suspect that the defendant is guilty, but believe there to be insufficient evidence for a conviction: in this case the public prosecutor may have the authority to block the private prosecution in order to prevent a future public prosecution with better evidence from being prevented by the principle of double jeopardy.

The public prosecutor may also have the authority to take over the private case for other reasons. [Crown Prosecution Service, Legal guidance page on " [http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/section1/chapter_h.html Private prosecutions] "]

Procedure Involved

In order to initiate a private prosecution an individual or organization other than the state-funded prosecutor goes to the local court of appropriate jurisdiction (Criminal or Provincial) and gets in line to see a Justice of the Peace or a Judge to swear on oath in an attempt to convince the Justice or Judge that there is enough evidence to demonstrate a reasonable probability of conviction.

Once the Justice or Judge has been convinced of such, he or she will issue an "information" which is a form telling the name and occupation of the informant (the person swearing to the Justice or the Judge) the name and address of the alleged offender, and the description of the alleged Offence.

The Justice or Judge will sign the "information" form and issue a summons to the defendant with a date to appear in court. The informant then delivers the summons to the defendant in the prescribed manner and court proceedings are commenced.

The date of First Appearance the defendant is to plead guilty or not guilty and the trial date is set if the defendant pleads not guilty, or if a plea of guilty is given the courts can deal with the matter right away by registering a conviction and sentence.

Notable private prosecutions

*Whitehouse v. Lemon (1977), the last successful blasphemy prosecution in the United Kingdom
*The unsuccessful charge brought by the family of Stephen Lawrence against the five men they alleged to have killed him (1996).
*The successful prosecution of Stanley Faulder for a 1975 murder in Texas. Faulder was executed in 1999 and is the only Canadian citizen executed in the United States since 1952.
*The charges against the Ottawa Children's Aid Society for Offences committed by them under section 307 (5) of the Corporations Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. C-38 [http://www.afterfostercare.ca/enforcement.html Foster Care Council of Canada - Advocacy Branch]

References