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Fri 12 Dec, 2003 07:12 pm
I live in Florida, and if anyone doesn't know by now, i'm a Trial Clerk. We have State Attorneys here, not District attorneys. It's my full assumption that the entire state of florida is that way, since I worked for the Clerk's office when I lived in Tampa (hillsborough county) and in neither counties, hills. nor orange, have I heard mention of a District Attorney.
Mr. Onyx is a new yorker born & raised and he tells me of District Attorneys and STATE attorneys both are there.
Can someone tell me what the difference is?
When you commit a crime in Florida, that crime is committed against all Floridians, and therefore, ALWAYS the 'state of florida' vs 'defendant' and it's always Assitant State Attorneys who prosecute on behalf of the elected State Attorney...each circuit or county has it's own state attorney's office, but they're all THE STATE OF FLORIDA.....
so....where, in other states, does the 'district attorney' come into play???
i reaaally want an answer...
I think it's just a matter of how the state carves up things.
In FL you have "State's Attorneys" setup by "Circuits" (you also have a few "County Attorneys"). In VA they have "Commonwealth's Attorneys". In OH they are "County Prosecuting Attorneys". NY calls them "County District Attorneys". Here in MA they are just "District Attorneys" (MA has this love/hate relationship thing going with the whole idea of county level government.)
BTW, you can find a list for each state's setup at
http://www.prosecutor.info
I am used to California, and it never occurred to me that other states didn't have District Attorneys...
I'm from New York and we always use the term Distract Attorney. I've never heard the term States Attorney used here. I've heard it used on the news about other states, but never here in NY. I live in upstate NY near Albany NY. The state Capitol.
A state attorney acts as a state legal representative while a district attorney is a prosecuting officer of a judicial district, he represent state in a distict level.
@MMYoung,
Quote:A state attorney acts as a state legal representative while a district attorney is a prosecuting officer of a judicial district, he represent state in a distict level.
I'm not sure this is accurate. As I understand it, it's merely a matter of terminology, which varies from state to state. In effect, every "district attorney" represents the State he resides in, enforcing the laws of that State.
The term "State's Attorney" is therefore probably more accurate, but even in those states which use it, each county (district) has it's own "States Attorney," which prosecutes crimes, etc., that are allegedly committed in that county.
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