Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site decwrl.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!mgnetp!ihnp4!zehntel!dual!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-silver!turano 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 Sender: daemon@decwrl.UUCP Organization: DEC Engineering Network Lines: 27 * 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 path: DECVAX!DECWRL!RHEA!GOLD!TURANO