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 prosecution involves a long-term, proactive partnership among the prosecutor's office, law enforcement, the community and public and private organizations, whereby the authority of the prosecutor's office is used to solve problems, improve public safety and enhance the quality of life of community members. According to the National Research Council, "the most universal ingredient" of community prosecution is the addition of crime prevention to the prosecutor's mission (2001). Under this emerging philosophy, prosecutors are viewed not just as officers of the court who come on scene once a crime has occurred, but rather as members of the community who have the power to stop crime from occurring. This community-oriented prosecution has become not just a new program, but a new strategy for prosecutors. Community prosecutors use tools such as nuisance abatement, drug-free and prostitute-free zones, restorative justice, community courts, gun reduction programs, truancy abatement, and graffiti cleanup to improve neighborhood safety.
Community prosecution has progressed significantly since its inception in the early 1990s. As recently as 1995, approximately six jurisdictions throughout the United States engaged in community prosecution, and then only in urban settings. Community prosecution continues to evolve and to spread beyond metropolitan cities to rural, small, and tribal jurisdictions. An APRI survey conducted in 2000 revealed that 49 percent of prosecutors' offices practice community prosecution in some form (Nugent and Rainville, 2001). According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics Bulletin (7/1/02), during 2001, sixty-eight percent of all prosecutors' offices used tools other than traditional criminal prosecution to address community problems. City attorneys' offices are also beginning to see and believe in the value of working with law enforcement and the community to develop creative solutions to livability issues.
The creative solutions developed by prosecutors around the country range from minor changes in how their organizations prioritize cases, to leading the way in re-defining the role of the prosecutor. Prosecutors are becoming partnership builders and bringing the police, the community, and other criminal justice and local agencies together to find ways they can work together to solve livability issues in neighborhoods. All share the tenet of community prosecution first identified by APRI in 1995 -- prosecutors transcending their traditional roles as case processors and forging partnerships with law enforcement, the community, and various public and private agencies to act as problem solvers. Community prosecution is a grassroots approach to law enforcement. It involves traditional and non-traditional initiatives to work within a community to prevent crime, thus reducing the number of arrests and prosecutions.
National Research Council (2001). "What's Changing in Prosecution? Report of a Workshop." Committee on Law and Justice, Phillip Heymann and Carol Petrie, Editors. Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
Nugent, M.E. and Rainville, G.A. (2001). "The State of Community Prosecution: Results of a National Survey." The Prosecutor. 13(2): 26-33. Alexandria, VA: National District Attorneys Association.
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