Prosecutors and Their Agents – Agents and Their Prosecutors

Daniel C. Richman, Columbia Law School

Abstract

This is an effort to describe the dynamics of interaction between federal prosecutors and federal enforcement agents, and to suggest how these dynamics affect the exercise of enforcement discretion. It concludes by exploring ways in which the proposed normative model – which sees prosecutors and agents as members of a "working group," with each side monitoring the other – can be furthered or frustrated with various procedural and structural changes.