Prosecutorial Discretion and the Current Status and Applicability of Accelerated Rehabiliative Disposition Under the Pennsylvania Criminal Justice System
Through pre-trial diversion programs, modern criminal justice systems have foregone criminal prosecution or incarceration of certain defendants in favor of correctional reform and social restoration. Under Pennsylvania\u27s diversion program, Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition, the defendants considered eligible for this alternative process are generally first offenders charged with nonviolent crimes. Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure 175 and 176 provide that it is the district attorney, exclusively, who determines which defendants are candidates for diversion. The author examines some of the more recent judicial attempts to define the proper scope of this discretionary power, as well as those attempting to determine the extent of prosecutorial power to deny expungement of a defendant\u27s arrest record following successful completion of the program
