The Position of the Public Prosecution Service in the New Swiss Criminal Justice Chain

Abstract

In Switzerland, a major reform of the justice system in 2011 saw the harmonisation of the various cantonal criminal procedure systems and the reorganisation of criminal prosecution and criminal justice chain for the whole of the country. By abolishing the position of examining magistrate, public prosecution services were given a new position in the criminal justice chain, now being put in charge of the entire preliminary proceedings. The independence of prosecutors was increased, at least as far as concerning all legal acts carried out in the course of the criminal prosecution process. A number of cantons had previously used different prosecution models and there was also a considerable change in the means of cooperation between the public prosecution services and the police. Research by the authors shows that from the prosecutors’ point of view, the new system seems to be a success.