Prosecution in Arizona: Practical problems, prosecutorial accountability, and local solutions

Arizona prosecutors focus on solving local crime problems and administrative challenges. Both workaday habits and provocative innovations emerge without much attention being paid to statewide or national concerns. Arizona prosecutors dramatically downplay their own power and discretion. They do not recognize the risk of disparity highlighted in the scholarly literature. They see themselves as operating within a context of established habits, office structures, and procedures including supervisory review. The local perspective is not a barrier to innovation, but innovations are largely restricted to the places where they take root. Institutions that invite statewide interaction and priority setting, such as the Arizona Prosecuting Attorneys Advisory Council, the Arizona Attorney General Office, and the Arizona Criminal Justice Commission, do not in practice facilitate statewide developments. Other collaborations, including various initiatives under the label "community prosecution," work toward local variation rather than toward statewide consistency.