Prosecutorial Discretion – Police Killings and Sexual Abuse
An interview with Profs Bruce Green & Rebecca Roiphe
CLE Credit — Approved in 5 States
Prosecutors have the power to make decisions that have a deep impact on the lives of arrestees and defendants. This power arises, in large part, from the enormous discretion they exercise over decisions like whether to initiate charges and which charges to bring, whether to offer plea bargains and under what terms, what sentences to seek, and how to present and try a case. Public attention has focused on prosecutors’ discretion in recent years, as their conduct is increasingly scrutinized in high-profile cases involving civilian deaths in police shootings and sexual assault by wealthy, powerful men. Professors Bruce Green and Rebecca Roiphe, both former prosecutors, discuss through the lens of recent controversial cases the ethical and legal standards governing prosecutorial conduct and why prosecutorial discretion is not a black-and-white matter.
About Profs Bruce Green & Rebecca Roiphe
“It's impossible not to feel the power to act as a prosecutor. It's such a huge responsibility.”
Professor Bruce Green is the Louis Stein Professor at Fordham Law School, where he directs the Louis Stein Center for Law and Ethics. He is a former federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York, where he served as Chief Appellate Attorney. Prior to that, he served as a law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and Second Circuit Court Judge James L. Oakes. He is a council member and past chair of the ABA Criminal Justice Section, serves on the Multistate Professional Bar Examination drafting committee, and is a member and past chair of the NY State Bar Association's Committee on Professional Ethics. Professor Green is the author of many law review articles and books, and his latest, which he co-authored, isProfessional Responsibility: A Contemporary Approach.
Professor Rebecca Roiphe is a professor at New York Law School (NYLS) where she teaches courses on criminal procedure, ethics in criminal practice, and American legal history. Prior to joining the NYLS faculty, she taught for two years at Fordham Law. Professor Roiphe has had diverse experiences in both public and private sectors. After law school, she was a law clerk for First Circuit Court Judge Bruce Selya and served as a Golieb Fellow at New York University School of Law. She then worked as an associate at Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering LLP, specializing in white-collar criminal defense, while obtaining her Ph.D. in American history. She is also a former Assistant District Attorney in Manhattan where she prosecuted money laundering, securities fraud, and corporate crime.
