Re: What Did You Watch? 2024-03-14 (Thursday)

BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:

"Adam H. Kerman" <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:

BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:

Ubiquitous <weberm@polaris.net> wrote:

 

THIS IS THE MOST HORRIFIC SCHOOL FIGHT I'VE SEEN YET: A Missouri
teenager was brutally beaten by a fellow student near their high
school. This type of violence among young students cannot keep
happening.

 

And while the girl who did it was arrested, she was only charged with
assault, not the attempted murder she should be facing.

 

Is there a legal theory in which a victim can pursue a civil rights
violation if police or the prosecution refuse to perform their duties to
gather evidence and to arrest and charge?

 

I don't know about civil rights violations but there is such a thing as
a writ of mandamus, which is applied for directly at the appellate
level, and which requests the court to issue a writ ordering the lower
court or some other government official to do their job.

 But the crime victim is the complaining witness only, not one of the
adversarial parties to the criminal case. He lacks standing to file such
an appeal.
 On Rumpole of the Bailey, and a few other procedurals, I'd heard of the
British concept of a private prosecution. The crime victim (or estate)
can hire a Q.C. to file charges and pursue a case if the Crown
prosecution service won't do an adequate job or won't file charges.
 That's not something we inherited.