It then becomes the responsibility of the requesting officer to complete the additional investigation and provide the information to the District Attorney's Office before a criminal complaint will be issued. Once the decision to file a complaint has been made, the task of successfully and fairly prosecuting the case begins. There are currently 23 prosecutors employed in the Criminal Division of the Shasta County District Attorney's Office. Each prosecutor works on behalf of the people of the State of California to see that individuals who commit crimes are convicted and punished so that justice is accomplished. Once a criminal case is filed the matter may be resolved by a negotiated disposition, at which a defendant would admit the truth of the charges, or by a trial before a judge or a jury.
Resolution can occur within days of filing a complaint or years.
Many cases can also be extremely complex, requiring significant law expertise and a significant amount of legal paperwork and procedures to successfully complete the prosecution. As is the trend in the general legal field, the District Attorney's Office has areas of specialization to help better prosecute cases of significance. Consequently, the District Attorney's Office assigns specific prosecutors to specialize in and handle cases in a particular area of law. Furthermore, many of these prosecutors are grouped in units or teams to help maximize the efficient operation of the office. The following paragraphs provide an overview of the organization of the attorneys in the Criminal Prosecution Division.