Professor Erik Luna, Professor of Law and Law Alumni Faculty Fellow, recently published his book, The Prosecutor in Transnational Perspective (Oxford University Press 2011), with Marianne Wade of the Birmingham Law School at the University of Birmingham.
The book, a compilation of works and essays, discusses the powerful role the American prosecutor plays in the judicial system. They wield the authority to accept or decline a case, choose which crimes to allege, and decide the number of counts to charge. These choices, among others, are often made with little supervision or institutional oversight. This prosecutorial discretion has prompted scholars to look to the role of prosecutors in Europe for insight on how to reform the American system of justice.
In The Prosecutor in Transnational Perspective, Professor Luna and Marianne Wade, through the works of their contributors coupled with their own analysis, demonstrate that valuable lessons can be learned from a transnational examination of prosecutorial authority. They examine both parallels and distinctions in the processes available to and decisions made by prosecutors in the United States and Europe. Ultimately, they demonstrate how the enhanced role of the prosecutor represents a crossroads for criminal justice with weighty legal and socio-economic consequences.
The book may be found on Amazon here.
