A district attorney is, in some U.S. jurisdictions, the title of the local public official who represents the government in the prosecution of criminals. The district attorney is the highest officeholder in the jurisdiction's legal department and supervises a staff of assistant district attorneys. Similar functions are carried out at the local level in other jurisdictions by officers named the Commonwealth's Attorney, State's Attorney, or County Attorney. Depending on the system in place in the particular state or county, district attorneys may be appointed by the chief executive of the region or elected by the people. For other uses, see United States (disambiguation) and US (disambiguation). ... Commonwealths Attorney is the title given to the elected felony prosecutor in Virginia and Kentucky. ... The State Attorney (also called States Attorney or District Attorney or D.A.) is an appointed or elected official who is often the chief law enforcement officer of his or her respective county circuit or district. ... A county attorney in the United States is the prosecutor for a county or local judicial district. ...

Because different levels of government in the U.S. operate independently of one another, there are many differences between persons who perform this function at the federal, state, and county levels. The proper title for an appointed federal prosecutor at the local level (as opposed to an appointed U.S. Department of Justice prosecutor based in Washington, DC) is United States Attorney. Such officers are appointed by the President of the United States, serve under the Attorney General, and prosecute cases in the district courts of the federal government. United States Attorneys, in turn, hire prosecutors to handle the daily officers of the office; they are known as Assistant United States Attorneys, or AUSAs. The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) is a Cabinet department in the United States government designed to enforce the law and defend the interests of the United States according to the law and to ensure fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans. ... Aerial photo (looking NW) of the Washington Monument and the White House in Washington, DC. Washington, D.C., officially the District of Columbia (also known as D.C.; Washington; the Nations Capital; the District; and, historically, the Federal City) is the capital city and administrative district of the United... United States Attorneys represent the U.S. federal government in United States district court. ... The President of the United States (unofficially abbreviated “POTUS”) is the head of state of the United States. ... The United States Attorney General is the head of the United States Department of Justice concerned with legal affairs and is the chief law enforcement officer of the United States government. ... The United States district courts are the general trial courts of the United States federal court system. ... United States Attorneys represent the U.S. federal government in United States district court. ...

Most states also have an Attorney General who oversees prosecutions throughout the state. A district attorney of a state is occassionally informally referred to as the state's attorney. Care should be taken to not confuse the two. In most common law jurisdictions, the Attorney General is the main legal adviser to the government, and in some jurisdictions may in addition have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions. ...

The equivalent position within England and many Commonwealth countries is the Director of Public Prosecutions. Wikimedia Commons has media related to: England Travel guide to England from Wikitravel English language English law English (people) List of monarchs of England – Kings of England family tree List of English people Angeln (region in northern Germany, presumably the origin of the Angles for whom England is named) UK... The Commonwealth of Nations, usually known as The Commonwealth, is an association of independent sovereign states, almost all of which are former territories of the British Empire. ... The Director of Public Prosecutions is the officer charged with the prosecution of criminal offences in several jurisdictions around the world. ...

External link

• www.prosecutor.info … indexes over 2,900 prosecutor web sites throughout the USA and other countries
• Website of the National District Attorneys Association