American prosecutors operate within legal and practical limits, just like any other public officials within a democratic form of government. Those limits are more anemic for prosecutors than for other criminal justice officials; they have also become less effective over time. The prosecutorial function can be reimagined with more effective legal, institutional, and internal cultural constraints that would produce responsive prosecutorial services: that is, prosecutors who respond to legal standards, to public safety local priorities, to input from other criminal justice actors, and to the lessons of experience. This effort to make prosecutors more responsive to other institutions and public sentiment runs counter to ideals in most other Western countries where the objective is a professionalized and insulated prosecutorial service. A more responsive prosecutor, however, is necessary in the United States because of the strong tradition of broad criminal codes and the ingrained expectations that prosecutors must serve justice and not just evaluate the legal sufficiency of individual cases. The prosecutor’s sense of justice—an essential supplement to the rule of law in the American context—must take shape within institutional checks and balances, guided by democratic priorities, and not just by the prosecutor’s individual morality.

中文翻译：

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重塑美国起诉制度

美国检察官的行为在法律和实际限制范围内，就像民主政府形式中的任何其他公职人员一样。与其他刑事司法官员相比，对检察官而言，这些限制更为贫乏。随着时间的流逝，它们的效力也逐渐减弱。可以通过产生有效的检察服务的更有效的法律，制度和内部文化约束来重新构想检察职能：也就是说，检察官对法律标准，地方公共安全优先事项，其他刑事司法行为者的意见以及对经验教训。这种使检察官对其他机构和公众情绪更加敏感的努力与大多数其他西方国家的理想背道而驰，在西方大多数国家，目标是提供专业化和独立的检察服务。但是，由于广泛的刑法的悠久传统以及人们对检察官必须服从司法而不是仅仅评估个别案件在法律上的充分性的根深蒂固的期望，在美国，需要有一个反应更快的检察官。检察官的正义感（在美国背景下是法治的重要补充）必须在体制制衡中形成，并由民主优先事项指导，而不仅仅是检察官的个人道德。