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Public Prosecutions Guide Book

This Guide Book includes directives and policies of the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice which relate to decision-making by Crown Attorneys in the course of prosecuting criminal cases. The policies and directives are, in essence, the instructions of the Attorney General to his agents, the Crown Attorneys. Cumulatively, they are the principal device through which the Attorney General strives to achieve the level of consistency necessary to ensure fair and equal treatment of all citizens involved in prosecutions or affected by prosecutorial decisions.

This Guide Book serves two main purposes:

• it is a convenient vehicle through which to distribute and consolidate the policies which have been developed for the guidance of Crown Attorneys. It helps to ensure that the current policies are readily available to the Crown Attorneys who must utilize them on a daily basis
• to enhance transparency in the decision making process. The contents of this Guide Book are public documents. Accused persons, victims and the public are entitled to be informed about the basis upon which important decisions in the criminal process are made. Such transparency helps to foster public confidence in the administration of justice and engenders respect for the decision makers.

The Guide Book is available online (109 KB).

* Please note that is a link to the table of contents document. In this document, each major heading is in red. This denotes a hypertext link to that actual section of the Guide Book.

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