The district attorney (DA) represents the state government in the prosecution of criminal offenses, and is the chief law enforcement officer and legal officer of their jurisdiction. The district attorney supervises a staff of prosecutors, with titles including assistant, administrative, and executive district attorneys. Depending upon the system in place, district attorneys may be appointed by the chief executive of the jurisdiction or elected by the voters of the jurisdiction. The title “district attorney” is used by several major jurisdictions within the United States, including California, Massachusetts, New York, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Texas.

History and role

The United States Judiciary Act of 1789, Section 35, provided for the appointment of a person in each judicial district to prosecute federal crimes and to represent the United States in all civil actions to which it was a party. Initially, there were 13 districts to cover the 11 States that had by that time ratified the constitution. Each State was a district, except for Massachusetts and Virginia which formed two. Districts were added when additional States were admitted. The statute did not confer a title upon these local agents of federal authority, but subsequent statutes and court decisions referred to them most frequently as “district attorneys.” In 1948, the Judicial Code adopted the term “United States attorneys.”