There have been many newspaper articles discussing the activities conducted by the Office of the Attorney General of Pennsylvania under former Attorney General Kathleen Kane. After reading many of those articles, it is apparent to me that there is a lack of understanding of the duties and power of the attorney general of Pennsylvania. This column is an evaluation, with suggestions, of what the attorney general of Pennsylvania can do, cannot do, and should do in his term in office.
The major misconception by many people, including members of the bar, is that there is a similarity of the powers of the Pennsylvania attorney general and the attorney general of the United States. Many believe that the Pennsylvania attorney general is the chief law enforcement officer of the state and has similar power over the law enforcement effort in Pennsylvania as the U.S. attorney general has over the U.S. attorneys. There is a major difference. In reality, the Pennsylvania attorney general is not the chief law enforcement officer of the state. The independently elected district attorneys of the 67 counties of Pennsylvania have unfettered original criminal jurisdiction in each county, and the attorney general has no control over their prosecutions. Although the Commonwealth Attorneys Act, the statute creating the position of elected attorney general, gives the attorney general jurisdiction to prosecute matters of political corruption and organized crime, district attorneys in those jurisdictions also can initiate cases in these subject areas, and in counties with larger district attorney offices often do so.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.
For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]
