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From: turano@silver.DEC (Tom Turano  DTN 231- [Office 4735, Lab 6978])
Newsgroups: net.legal
Subject: Re: Criminal Legal Actions Brought By Citizens
Message-ID: <3295@decwrl.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 13-Aug-84 11:49:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: decwrl.3295
Posted: Mon Aug 13 11:49:00 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 14-Aug-84 02:40:47 EDT
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*

I would be interested in receiving more information concerning the
bringing of criminal charges by a private citizen in the state of
Massachusetts.

It is my belief that criminal prosecution is a function that the
state reserves to itself. The theory being that a crime is against
the state and not the individual.

Most crimes have civil equivalents in the form of torts, and it is
possible to begin a civil action where a criminal proceeding has
not taken place. For example, Battery is, under most if not all
jurisdictions, a crime and it is also a tort, a cause for civil
action. As a result, it is possible for a citizen to bring forth
a civil action for the Battery even when the state determines that
it will not prosecute under the criminal statute.

If indeed Massachusetts is a jurisdiction where a citizen can initiate
a criminal action, I'd like a reference to a case where this has
occurred or a reference to the statute under which it is sanctioned.

Tom Turano
Laboratory Data Products
DIGITAL

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