Module 2

The investigation and the file: working with police, evidence and the case file

Before a prosecutor decides anything, there is a file. It is the product of an investigation, and its quality sets the limit on what the prosecutor can do. A good prosecutor reads it the way a careful editor reads a draft: for what it says, what it leaves out, what it contradicts and what could be wrong with it. The prosecutor also works with the investigators, whose role and culture differ from the prosecutor’s. Done well, the relationship is a partnership of independence and respect: the prosecutor asks hard questions and the investigators supply answers. Done badly, it becomes either too distant, with files that arrive unfinished, or too close, with a prosecutor who stops testing the police case. This module is about that relationship, the evidence and how to read a file.

General education on the work of a prosecutor across legal systems, using invented people, offices and cases. It is not legal or career advice. Criminal procedure, disclosure rules, standards of proof and routes into the profession differ between countries and change: check the rules that apply to you with the prosecution service and the profession.