PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Teri Stoddard
Telephone: 301-801-0608
Email: tstoddard@prosecutorintegrity.org
In Wake of NY Times Editorial, CPI Unveils Registry of Prosecutorial Misconduct
WASHINGTON / January 8, 2014 – Today the non-profit Center for Prosecutor Integrity (CPI) announces the launching of the new Registry of Prosecutorial Misconduct. The unveiling comes three days after a New York Times’ editorial charged ethical violations by prosecutors have become “rampant” across the nation: http://nyti.ms/1hu7K7V
The Registry is the first publicly available national online database to catalog judicial or legal disciplinary committee findings of prosecutorial misconduct. The Registry of Prosecutorial Misconduct will allow lawmakers, researchers, legal organizations, criminal justice reform groups, and others to identify common types of misconduct, assess trends, and compare jurisdictions.
The database includes over 15 fields such as Crime, State, Prosecutor Name, Trial Year, Misconduct Type, and Sanction Type. The Finding field features the opinion or determination by a disciplinary body or by a trial, appellate, or supreme court.
The Registry database can be viewed here: https://www.prosecutorintegrity.org/registry/database/ A graph summarizing the most common types of misconduct committed by federal prosecutors is available here: https://www.prosecutorintegrity.org/registry/graph/numberbymisconducttype/
The database can be accessed by any individual at no charge using Sort, Filter, or Search functions. The Registry defines prosecutorial misconduct as the violation of any pertinent code of professional ethics or law, or other conduct that prejudices, or appears to prejudice the administration of justice.
The database currently features 200 cases of misconduct by federal prosecutors. Additional cases will be added to the database on a state-by-state basis. CPI will identify state-level partners to facilitate data access.
“As a former district attorney, I have become deeply concerned that the American public has begun to question the ethical commitment of prosecutors,” notes CPI chairman Phillip Kuhn. “The Registry of Prosecutorial Misconduct will promote accountability and help advance the integrity of prosecutorial practice.”
Additional information about the Registry can be seen here: https://www.prosecutorintegrity.org/registry/. Persons may submit cases for consideration for inclusion: registry@prosecutorintegrity.org .
The Center for Prosecutor Integrity is working to preserve the presumption of innocence, assure equal treatment under law, and bring an end to wrongful convictions through the enhancement of prosecutor ethics: https://www.prosecutorintegrity.org/