criminal-law assault
Can involvement of third party be a factor lowering culpability and leading to non-prosecution decision?
<p>A person I know (she lives in Maryland) was a victim of a minor assault where she was pushed around and her face grasped. Thankfully she did not suffer bodily harm. The two assailants admitted the assault but eventually after being held the maximum time without prosecution they were released. Apparently there was some urging by a character who did not care for my acquintance, at least about going to "see" her. I don't think this person was found to be guilty of instigation, but her involvement was deemed to be something close to it - though not worthy of arrest. </p>

<p>According to my acquintance the assailants were in the end released because of three reasons: 
1) first time offenders
2) they expressed deep remorse during their extended arrest
3) "will of third party" was involved</p>

<p>I know 1 &amp; 2 can play role in deeming long containment a sufficient punishment - but can 3 also influence non-prosecution decision? Or is she misunderstanding something? I've not heard of this before.</p>

<p>In the US at least, the decisions made by a prosecutor to prosecute - or not - or to level charges that involve less of a punishment are entirely up to the prosecutor. You can always ask the prosecutor the reasons for the lack of charges and release for "time served"; he/she may or may not tell you, depending on disclosure laws, age of defendants, or other legal reasons.</p>

<p>The prosecutor's job is to be objective and weigh the evidence, the involvement of all parties, remorse, previous offenses, evidence, possible pleas, the cooperation of the offenders, letters of support and character witnesses, media exposure, etc., all things that lead to what they feel is the likelihood of conviction (or a plea bargain) and some sort of sense of justice for the victim.</p>

<p>Prosecutors must also try to be aware of conflicts of interest with those charged, and ideally must avoid the pitfalls of corruption and political pressure to charge (or not charge) criminals.</p>

<p>But prosecutors may also not charge people because of having too much work to do with other more serious cases, lack of funding for investigations, lack of staff in the office, or even having a bad day; they're human.</p>

<p>Prosecutors arguably have a lot of power when it comes to justice; they can decline to prosecute and little can be done about it.</p>
