Pace University DigitalCommons@Pace Pace Law Faculty Publications School of Law 1992 The New Prosecutors Bennett L. Gershman Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.pace.edu/lawfaculty Part of the Criminal Law Commons, and the Criminal Procedure Commons Recommended Citation Bennett L. Gershman, The New Prosecutors, 53 U. Pitt. L. Rev. 393 (1992), http://digitalcommons.pace.edu/lawfaculty/138/. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the School of Law at DigitalCommons@Pace. It has been accepted for inclusion in Pace Law Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@Pace. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. THE NEW PROSECUTORS Bennett L. Gershman* The power and prestige of the American prosecutor have changed dramatically over the past twenty years. Three generalizations appro- priately describe this change. First, prosecutors wield vastly more power than ever before. Second, prosecutors are more insulated from judicial control over their conduct. Third, prosecutors are increasingly immune to ethical restraints. Only the last point may provoke some controversy; the first two are easily documented, and generally ac- cepted by the courts and commentators.' Several factors account for this change. The most obvious is the transition from a due process-oriented criminal justice model to a model that has placed increasing emphasis on crime control and crime prevention.Trime has grown more complex and sophisticated