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Uncertainty And The Search For Truth At Trial: Defining Prosecutorial "Objectivity" In German Sexual Assault Cases, Shawn Marie Boyne

Washington and Lee Law Review

According to German legal scholar, Claus Roxin, German prosecutors are the "most objective civil servants" in the world. Roxin 's assessment of German prosecution practice reflects the conviction of many German legal scholars that prosecutors in Germany's inquisitorial system function as second judges dedicated to finding the objective "truth." In this Article I investigate how prosecutors "translate" the normative duty of objectivity enshrined in the German penal code into observable practices on the ground I examine prosecutorial decision-making in three sexual assault trials. Sexual assault cases pose unique challenges to prosecutors as well as to the definition of objectivity. Because …