the.com/district attorney
The lawyer who decides which crimes get to be your problem.
means The elected or appointed government lawyer who prosecutes criminal cases on behalf of the state within a particular district.
from A straightforward compound: 'district' from Latin districtus (an area over which authority is exercised) plus 'attorney,' from Old French atorné, 'one appointed to act for another.' The title emerged in the United States as the legal system organized prosecution by geographic jurisdiction — each district got its own appointed attorney to represent the people's case, a very American bureaucratic solution to the question of who gets to accuse you.
- real power
- decides who gets charged, not just judges
- elected job
- most are voted in, making justice a popularity contest
- nickname
- DA, like a title in a mob movie
- discretion
- can drop any case for any reason, mostly