De-Coding Hegemony: Exploring the Discourse of a Prosecuting Elite

Abstract

Public prosecution authorities are a relatively recent institutional development within common law criminal justice systems. Although prosecution occupies a critical place within criminal justice, it is under-researched. Those who work as prosecutors are an even greater unknown.They rarely give a public account of themselves. Their views are veiled in the language of neutrality and restraint. This chapter presents analysis of the discourse of a small group of ex-Directors of Public Prosecution from six different jurisdictions in Australia. The reflections of this elite group are used as a single narrative in order to identify and map their core organising concepts. The chapter works through different depictions of intellectual and technical elites as high mandarins to explore how power works in contemporary criminal justice.