Agency overview | |
---|---|
Formed | 13 July 1987 |
Type | Department |
Jurisdiction | New South Wales |
Headquarters | Level 6, 252 Pitt Street, Sydney, Australia |
Minister responsible | |
Agency executive |
|
Parent Agency | New South Wales Department of Attorney General and Justice |
Key document |
The New South Wales Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) is an independent prosecuting service and government agency within the portfolio of the Attorney General of New South Wales. [1] Of all prosecuting services in Australia, the ODPP has the largest caseload, staff, and budget. [2]
The current Director of Public Prosecutions is Sally Dowling SC . [3]
The ODPP was established by the Director of Public Prosecutions Act 1986 (NSW) and began its operations on 13 July 1987. [1]
Ordinal | Officeholder | Term start | Term end | Time in office | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Reg Blanch QC | 1987 | 1994 | 6–7 years | [4] [5] |
2 | Nicholas Cowdery AM , QC | 1994 | 30 June 2011 | 16–17 years | [6] |
3 | Lloyd Babb SC | 1 July 2011 | 30 June 2021 | 9 years, 364 days | [7] |
4 | Sally Dowling SC | 1 July 2021 | incumbent | 3 years, 216 days | [8] |
Deputy Directors | Period |
---|---|
Michael Alan Viney QC | 1987 –1990 |
Unknown | 1990 –1997 |
Martin Blackmore SC | 1997 –March 2002 |
Greg Smith SC | April 2002 –November 2006 |
David Frearson SC | November 2007 –2 March 2009 |
Donna Woodburne SC | 4 June 2009 –January 2011 |
Christopher Maxwell QC (acting) | January 2011 –February 2012 |
John Pickering SC | February 2012 –May 2016 |
Kara Shead SC | May 2016 –date |
Deputy Director | Period |
Unknown | 1987 –1999 |
Roy Ellis | November 1999 –11 August 2003 |
Luigi Lamprati SC | December 2003 –October 2011 |
David Arnott SC (acting) | October 2011 –November 2011 |
Keith Alder | November 2011 –date |
In general, it is for the prosecution, not the courts, to decide who is prosecuted and for what offences. It is the prosecution's sole discretion to shape its charges, and as a result, to influence what may follow in the trial. [9] The functions of the Director of Public Prosecutions, per the Director of Public Prosecutions Act 1986 (NSW) (i.e., the DPP Act), include: [10] [11]
Furthermore, under the DPP Act, the Director has similar functions with regard to: [10]
Section 21 of the DPP Act provides that the Director may appear in person or may be represented by a counsel or solicitor in any proceedings which are carried on by the Director. [10]
The functions of the Solicitor for Public Prosecutions are prescribed in section 23 of the DPP Act. These are: [10]
The functions of Crown Prosecutors are set out in section 5 of the Crown Prosecutors Act 1986. They include: [10] [11]
The ODPP consists of: [1]
The Director, Deputy Directors, the Crown Prosecutors, and the Solicitor for Public Prosecutions are statutorily appointed office holders under the DPP Act. [1]
The relationship between the Director, the Crown Prosecutors, and the Solicitor, is somewhat analogous to that which exists between client, counsel, and solicitor in the private sector. The Corporate Services Division provides financial, personnel, information technology, and property services to the other three groupings in the ODPP. [1]
The ODPP Head Office, where the Director, the two Deputy Directors, and their support staff are based, located at 175 Liverpool Street. [1] In Western Sydney, the ODPP has three offices, located at Parramatta, Penrith, and Campbelltown. [1] In regional New South Wales, the ODPP has six offices, located at Lismore, Newcastle, Gosford, Wagga Wagga, Dubbo and Wollongong. [1]
Each of the ODPP offices is staffed by Crown Prosecutors, solicitors, and administrative officers. [1] Each office conducts prosecutions in the relevant Local, District, and Supreme Courts. [1] Witness Assistance Service officers, who are generally social workers or psychologists, are also located in each Office. [1] The officers of this Service provide assistance, support, referral to support agencies, and information to civilian prosecution witnesses. [1]
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enforcement, prosecutions or even responsibility for legal affairs generally. In practice, the extent to which the attorney general personally provides legal advice to the government varies between jurisdictions, and even between individual office-holders within the same jurisdiction, often depending on the level and nature of the office-holder's prior legal experience.
The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) is the office or official charged with the prosecution of criminal offences in several criminal jurisdictions around the world. The title is used mainly in jurisdictions that are or have been members of the Commonwealth of Nations.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is the principal public agency for conducting criminal prosecutions in England and Wales. It is headed by the Director of Public Prosecutions.
In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, county prosecutor, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or solicitor is the chief prosecutor or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a local government area, typically a county or a group of counties. The exact scope of the office varies by state. Generally, the prosecutor is said to represent the people of the jurisdiction in the state's courts, typically in criminal matters, against defendants. District attorneys are elected in almost all states, and the role is generally partisan. This is unlike similar roles in other common law jurisdictions, where chief prosecutors are appointed based on merit and expected to be politically independent.
A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the adversarial system, which is adopted in common law, or inquisitorial system, which is adopted in civil law. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the case in a criminal trial against the defendant, an individual accused of breaking the law. Typically, the prosecutor represents the state or the government in the case brought against the accused person.
Crown attorneys or crown counsel or, in Alberta and New Brunswick, crown prosecutors are the prosecutors in the legal system of Canada.
The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service is the independent public prosecution service for Scotland, and is a Ministerial Department of the Scottish Government. The department is headed by His Majesty's Lord Advocate, who under the Scottish legal system is responsible for prosecution, along with the sheriffdom procurators fiscal. In Scotland, virtually all prosecution of criminal offences is undertaken by the Crown. Private prosecutions are extremely rare.
In England and Wales, a magistrates' court is a lower court which hears matters relating to summary offences and some triable either-way matters. Some civil law issues are also decided here, notably family proceedings. In 2010, there were 320 magistrates' courts in England and Wales; by 2020, a decade later, 164 of those had closed. The jurisdiction of magistrates' courts and rules governing them are set out in the Magistrates' Courts Act 1980.
Crown prosecutors are the public prosecutors in the legal system of Australia. In Western Australia, they are referred to as State prosecutors.
A clerk of the peace held an office in England and Wales whose responsibility was the records of the quarter sessions and the framing of presentments and indictments. They had legal training, so that they could advise justices of the peace.
Nicholas Richard Cowdery, is a barrister who served as the Director of Public Prosecutions for the Australian state of New South Wales from 1994 to 2011. Cowdery also served as president of the International Association of Prosecutors from 1999 to 2005.
The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) Fiji is an independent office by virtue of section 117 of the 2013 Constitution of Fiji. The ODPP is motivated by the principle that it is in the interest of justice that the guilty be brought to justice and the innocent are not wrongly convicted.
Margaret Mary Cunneen SC is an Australian barrister, prosecutor and commissioner of a government inquiry.
A private prosecution is a criminal proceeding initiated by an individual private citizen or private organisation instead of by a public prosecutor who represents the state. Private prosecutions are allowed in many jurisdictions under common law, but have become less frequent in modern times as most prosecutions are now handled by professional public prosecutors instead of private individuals who retain barristers.
The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) is the head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and the third most senior public prosecutor in England and Wales, ranking after the attorney general and solicitor general.
The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) is the National Prosecuting Authority in the Republic of Kenya as established by the Constitution of Kenya, which de-linked it from the Office of the Attorney General and established it as an independent office. The office is empowered with the authority to exercise the State's powers of prosecution with regard to criminal proceedings.
Crown advocate is a title used in Britain and some former British colonies for a government prosecutor. In former British Colonies and certain British extraterritorial courts the title is used by the senior government advocate.
The Office of the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions or, informally, the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (CDPP) is an independent prosecuting service and government agency within the portfolio of the Attorney-General of Australia, as a part of the Attorney-General's Department. It was established by the Director of Public Prosecutions Act 1983 (Cth) and began its operations in 1984.
The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions is the principal public agency for conducting criminal prosecutions in the Republic of Ireland. It is led by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
The Victorian Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) is the person responsible for conducting criminal proceedings for indictable offences on behalf of the Monarch of Australia. The role of the DPP is supported by the Crown Prosecutors' Chambers, led by the Chief Crown Prosecutor, and the Office of Public Prosecutions.