Prosecutors & Servant Leadership: Discretion, Duty, & Criminal Justice
Prosecutors & Servant Leadership: Discretion, Duty, & Criminal Justice
Tabitha Anderson | 2021
Abstract
Prosecutors are tasked with multiple legal duties, ethical responsibilities, high caseloads, and inherent discretionary authority. As ministers of justice, we expect them to be accomplished trial attorneys, victim advocates, and community representatives. They labor within an adversarial system, a political structure, and courts of public record and opinion. These duties, responsibilities, and expectations often come into conflict. New prosecutors and seasoned prosecutors struggle to effectively balance these competing interests.
Prosecutors are leaders in the criminal justice system. Servant Leadership is a successful approach for prosecutors because it mirrors the multiple duties and behaviors of a prosecutor to put the needs, development, and success of others first. The goal of servant leaders, as with prosecutors, is to equip others with the desire and skill to succeed and to become those who, in turn, serve their communities. Like servant leaders, prosecutors lead from the power of service. The seven behaviors of Servant Leadership – conceptual skills, creating value for the community, behaving ethically, empowering others, putting others first, helping others grow and succeed, and healing – correspond closely to the duties of a prosecutor. To effectively balance these competing duties, prosecutors must begin with their own emotional intelligence (EI). The development of EI leads to competencies in self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and social skill that support Servant Leadership.
This Servant Leadership seminar introduces prosecutors to the seven behaviors of Servant Leadership and the four competencies of EI. It demonstrates how they apply to prosecutors and reveals why now is a critical time for such training. At the end of the seminar, prosecutors will have developed a leadership plan that blends the competencies of EI and the behaviors of Servant Leadership with personal, professional, and organizational goals. By virtue of their duties and power, prosecutors are leaders regardless of their experience. While prosecutors are taught how to be lawyers, they are not taught how to be leaders. This seminar is critical for all prosecutors to provide the best possible service to victims, defendants, their communities, and the criminal justice system.