Usurp

OUR NEW attorney general, Jason Miyares, is trying to make a name for himself. He seeks to build a “tough on crime” image by undermining locally elected ...

Present Virginia law and tradition allows the attorney general to intervene in a local criminal proceeding under certain situations, but usually only if the commonwealth’s attorney requests that assistance. A circuit court judge took the unusual (and some say unconstitutional) action of discharging Biberaj and her entire office from a criminal case in which she recommended an allegedly “lenient” plea agreement. Second, this discretion is rooted in the founding of the nation and the ethics of the position. The county schools are embroiled in a sexual assault case, and parent groups have demanded that School Board members be removed and that Biberaj prosecute the alleged wrongdoers. A number of communities, including several in Virginia, have elected so-called “progressive prosecutors” who question traditional “tough on crime” approaches. “Prosecutorial discretion” is a concept embedded deeply in American jurisprudence, and argues that prosecutors should exercise their judgment in deciding who to charge for violations of the law, and what to recommend as penalties for conviction.