Prosecutors and Drugs Policy: A Tale of Six European Systems

The Symposium that this issue of the Law Journal documents is dedicated to a discussion of drugs and justice in the United States. It is hoped that with this contribution detailing the drug policy and the handling of related cases in several European jurisdictions an opportunity to reflect on certain issues from a different perspective and for discussion will arise. The data presented here stem mostly from a study conducted by the author and a group of researchers across Europe seeking to explore the function of prosecution services within six criminal justice systems: England and Wales, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and Sweden. Though it was not a specific study focus, some interesting information concerning drug policy and the prosecution services' role within it was revealed for the countries involved and is recounted here.

The central study conclusion was that prosecution services across Europe play a key role in deciding how offences are dealt with. Considering that drug policy is a major issue within European criminal justice systems, it is not surprising that this research found prosecution services playing a particular role within drug policies of the studied countries