Prosecutor's Procedural Guidance on Pre-Trial Investigation: International Experience and National Realities

Abstract

One of the main problems of reforming the institution of the prosecutor’s office is the partial uncertainty of the function of procedural guidance of pre-trial investigations as an element of supervisory powers. The lack of provisions on effective influence on the implementation of instructions on the management of the investigation, bringing investigators to justice, etc. indicates the need to review the existing approaches to the scope of the prosecutor’s powers. The purpose of the study is to analyse existing approaches to the scope of the prosecutor’s powers regarding the procedural management of pre-trial investigations and to analyse the international experience of the functioning of this institution of criminal procedure. When writing this paper, terminological, system and structural, comparative and legal methods were used. The paper analyses the current state of procedural guidance in Ukraine and a number of European and post-Soviet countries to identify positive innovations and develop proposals for their implementation in the national law enforcement environment. The necessity of bringing approaches to the consolidation of this institution in the legislation in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution of Ukraine is discussed. The paper considers in detail the requirements of the legislation of Germany and Georgia regarding the consolidation of the institution of procedural guidance for pre-trial investigations. The classification of states according to the powers of their prosecutor’s offices in terms of procedural management of pre-trial investigations is carried out. It is proved that the institute of procedural management of pre-trial investigations in Ukraine requires application of the experience of foreign countries. The findings can be used in rule-making and law enforcement activities