As support has grown to reduce the footprint of criminal law by defunding the police, volunteer prosecution—a practice that has garnered little attention—continues to expand criminal law’s footprint. Volunteer prosecutors come in many different forms, but their core similarity is that they all prosecute crime without getting paid. Some are entry-level lawyers seeking to gain a foothold in the legal profession, while others are retirees seeking to contribute to their communities. Others work full-time paid jobs in civil practice but volunteer to prosecute some criminal cases too. Many volunteers bring only misdemeanors or petty offenses— prosecutions that disproportionately burden people of color. The racial disparity of those prosecutions prompted a large Minnesota law firm to cancel its volunteer prosecutor program after police killed George Floyd.

中文翻译：

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志愿检察官

随着越来越多的支持通过取消对警察的资助来减少刑法的足迹，志愿起诉——一种很少受到关注的做法——继续扩大刑法的足迹。志愿检察官有许多不同的形式，但它们的核心相似之处在于，他们都是在没有报酬的情况下起诉犯罪。有些是寻求在法律界站稳脚跟的入门级律师，而另一些则是寻求为社区做出贡献的退休人员。其他人在民事实践中从事全职带薪工作，但也自愿起诉一些刑事案件。许多志愿者只带来轻罪或轻微的罪行——这些起诉会给有色人种带来不成比例的负担。