Comparative Perspectives on Prosecution

Hey, the whole world doesn't handle prosecutions the same way the United States does!

So the first program of the afternoon in The Prosecutorial Ethic: A Tribute to King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng is "Comparative Perspectives on Prosecution."

• Maureen Howard, introducing the panel, talked about some of the aspects of other countries' systems she's learned by teaching in trial advocacy programs in Ireland (last year) and Hong Kong (last week).
• Judge Jack F. Nevin (Tacoma District Court) spoke of the different situations in areas he has observed -- Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Iraq. (As a Brigadier General in the U.S. Army Reserve, he is Chief Judge of the U.S. Army Court of Criminal Appeals.)
• Molly Townes O'Brien, an American teaching in an Australian law school, contrasted the Australian system with ours, particularly in the area of plea bargaining. (They call it "charge bargaining" -- after all, you're bargaining about different charges and the only possible plea is "guilty.")
• Judge Ann Claire Williams (7th Cir.) discussed work she has done training attorneys and judges in Ghana, Liberia, and Kenya.