Explain the “gateway to justice.” What are some of the factors prosecutors consider when deciding whether or not to charge a suspect.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

“The gateway to justice” refers to the prosecutor’s initial decision of whether or not to prosecute a
suspect. Prosecutors have wide discretion at this largely invisible stage in the process; there are no
legislative or judicial guidelines on charging, and a decision not to file charges ordinarily is immune from
review. There are a number of reasons why prosecutors might decide not to file charges against a
suspect who has been arrested by the police. One reason might be that the prosecutor believes that the
suspect is not guilty of the crime with which he/she is charged. Another reason—in fact, a more likely
reason—for charge dismissal is that the prosecutor believes that the suspect is guilty but does not
believe that he/she can get a conviction in the case. Most studies of the charging process also conclude
that prosecutors attempt to “avoid uncertainty” (Albonetti, 1986, 1987) by filing charges in cases where
the odds of conviction are good and by rejecting charges in cases where conviction is unlikely. The
results of these studies reveal that prosecutors’ assessments of convictability are based primarily, but
not exclusively, on legally relevant factors such as the seriousness of the offense, the strength of
evidence in the case, and the culpability of the defendant. A second fairly consistent finding is that
prosecutors’ assessments of convictability, and thus their charging decisions also reflect the influence of
legally irrelevant characteristics of the suspect and victim. Some researchers suggest that prosecutors
attempt to predict how the background, behavior, and motivation of the suspect and victim will be
interpreted by other decision makers, especially jurors. Victim characteristics also play a role in the
charging process. Stanko (1988), in fact, concludes that “the character and credibility of the victim is a
key factor in determining prosecutorial strategies, one at least as important as ‘objective’ evidence about
the crime or characteristics of the defendant.” In conclusion, there are a multitude of factors that
influence a prosecutor’s decision of whether or not to charge a suspect including likelihood of
convictability, suspect characteristics, and victim characteristics. The gateway power of the prosecutor
gives them significant discretion in the criminal justice system.