The Public Prosecutor's Office of Costa Rica has the accusatory function before the Criminal Courts through the exercise of the criminal action and the carrying out of the preparatory investigation in crimes of public action, a task that it fulfils jointly with the Judicial Investigation Agency. However, when the awauthorises it, with the prior authorisation of the superior, the representative of the Public Prosecutor's Office may request that the criminal prosecution be totally or partially dispensed with, that it be limited to one or more offences or to one of the persons who participated in the act. This same body must intervene in criminal enforcement proceedings, in the civil defence of the victim when appropriate, and assume the other functions assigned to it by law. Since 2010, the position of attorney general has been held by Jorge Chavarría Guzmán. Chavarría is temporarily suspended for 3 months, from 13 October 2017 until 13 January 2018, while under investigation for allegedly concealing evidence in relation to "el Cementazo", a political scandal. Chavarría resigned from the post on 10 November 2017, due to his retirement. The current

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

is Emilia Navas Aparicio.

History

The Public Prosecutor's Office of

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

was created by law of the Republic; it does not have constitutional status. The body that exists today, as an auxiliary institution of the modern administration of justice, dates from thirty-four years ago, although its essence as a republican institution is the product of more than one hundred and fifty years of independent and constitutional history. Initially, its officials had to know a vast number of matters, all related to the interests of the State, among which three main aspects stood out: tax, patrimonial and criminal. Criminal matters came to prevail over the others, since tax matters remained in the sphere of the Executive and "tax criminal" matters in the Public Prosecutor's Office. Criminal tax matters were of little relevance, as its unique legislation reserved most of the activities to the administrative procedure; on the other hand, property matters remained the task of the Attorney General's Office on a relatively equal footing with the private sector.

Organizational structure

The Public Ministry is made up of different units and prosecutors' offices, including: * Prosecutor General's Office. * Fiscal

Council A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or natio ...

. * Prosecution of the Deputy Attorney General. * Assistant General Procuratorates. * Office of Technical and

International Relations International relations (IR), sometimes referred to as international studies and international affairs, is the scientific study of interactions between sovereign states. In a broader sense, it concerns all activities between states—such as ...

. * Unit

Tax A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, or n ...

Inspectorate. *

Prosecutor A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the Civil law (legal system), civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the ...

s from the Attorney General. * Training and Monitoring Unit. * Administrative Unit. * Unit

Property Property is a system of rights that gives people legal control of valuable things, and also refers to the valuable things themselves. Depending on the nature of the property, an owner of property may have the right to consume, alter, share, r ...

Crime. *

Drug A drug is any chemical substance that causes a change in an organism's physiology or psychology when consumed. Drugs are typically distinguished from food and substances that provide nutritional support. Consumption of drugs can be via insuffla ...

Trafficking and Juvenile. * Deputy

Economic An economy is an area of the Production (economics), production, Distribution (economics), distribution and trade, as well as Consumption (economics), consumption of Goods (economics), goods and Service (economics), services. In general, it is ...

Crime,

Corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...

and Tax. * Enforcement of the

penalty Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * Penalty ...

. * Unit scams. * Unit

vehicle A vehicle (from la, vehiculum) is a machine that transports people or cargo. Vehicles include wagons, bicycles, motor vehicles (motorcycles, cars, trucks, buses, mobility scooters for disabled people), railed vehicles (trains, trams), wa ...

thefts. *

Domestic Violence Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse or family violence) is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. ''Domestic violence'' is often used as a synonym for ''intimate partner ...

Unit and

Sex Crime Sex and the law deals with the regulation by law of human sexual activity. Sex laws vary from one place or jurisdiction to another, and have varied over time. Unlawful sexual acts are called sex crimes. Some laws regarding sexual activity are ...

s. * Deputy Environment. *

Civil Defense Civil defense ( en, region=gb, civil defence) or civil protection is an effort to protect the citizens of a state (generally non-combatants) from man-made and natural disasters. It uses the principles of emergency operations: prevention, miti ...

Office of the Victim. * Office of Information and Guidance for the Victim.

The Civil Defense Office of the Victim

The Civil Defense Office of the Victim is an office that provides the victims of a crime with the services of a legal representative to help them obtain compensation for the damages they have suffered. The Office of Civil Defence for Victims is part of the Public Prosecutor's Office and began its work on 1 January 1998, with the entry into force of the

Code of Criminal Procedure Criminal procedure is the adjudication process of the criminal law. While criminal procedure differs dramatically by jurisdiction, the process generally begins with a formal criminal charge with the person on trial either being free on bail or i ...

. The professional service provided by this office is completely free and consists of assigning a lawyer to the victim, who takes the necessary steps to ensure that the accused or whoever is responsible for him pays for the damages caused. This is called "civil action for damages". If the office verifies that the victim did have sufficient resources to hire a private legal representative to handle the case, it will make the necessary arrangements for the victim to pay for the professional services received.

Office of Information and Guidance for Victim

The Office of Information and Guidance for Victim was created with the aim of guiding the victim and reducing his or her problems during the criminal proceedings. This office is attached to the Public Prosecutor's Office and is located on the sixth floor of the Courts of the First Judicial Circuit.

References

External links