Does the Crown (prosecutor) have a duty do convict or to find out the truth?

Question

Is the job one of win at all costs -

Or should there be some justice anf truth finding out there ?

When the Crown is wrong - should they go forward to obtain conviction or admit to being wrong ?



I am going to guess that most would say - truth and justice admit to known wrongs -

But it does not seem to work that way at all - The prosecutor (Crown) rarely admits wrong and appears to prosecute to win no matter the case - even when they know or should have known they were wrong -

What can be done about this -

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/canada_truscott_col

The Crown and the governemtn knew this man was innocent 4 years ago - at least - yet they fought every step of the way

They likely knew long before that but refused admision of wrong doing -

Answer 1

The ethical obligation of the prosecutor is to seek justice, within the bounds of law.

Sometimes (usually) justice is a conviction. But the prosecutor must always be more focused on doing what is right based on the available evidence than with "winning".

Answer 2

The duty of the crown is to Find The Truth. I suggest you look at the arguments of Lord Coke, as he is quite expressive of this very point.