It is funny how someone can, all of a sudden, ponder a phrase that he or she has heard all of their lives but never gave the words much thought. I noticed a “no trespassing” sign on an apartment complex this morning as I walked by. Small, red letters at the bottom of the sign said:
“Violators will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”
I never really thought about just what being prosecuted to the full extent of the law meant until today. It’s just something I have always heard and never questioned. A legal definition of “prosecute” is:
“v. 1) in criminal law, to charge a person with a crime and thereafter pursue the case through trial on behalf of the government. This is normally the function of the District Attorney and the U.S. Attorney in federal criminal cases. 2) to conduct any legal action by a lawyer on behalf of a client, including both civil and criminal cases, but most commonly referring to prosecution for crimes.”
So I don’t know if you get what I am leading up to but basically, in a sense of the word, the property owner does not really have much of a dog in the hunt as for actually prosecuting the crime. They can file a complaint. They can ask the district attorney to prosecute the crime to the full extent of the law. But the district attorney doesn’t have to, nor sometimes does he or she want to, prosecute someone to the fullest extent of the law.
Also puzzling is the wording “full extent of the law.” I would think if someone has had a crime committed against them or if there was a possibility of a crime happening to them that they wouldn’t want the perpetrator prosecuted to the “least extent of the law,” or the “medium extent of the law.” It just seems “full extent” is sort of a superfluous notion.
Even if the sign leaves off the full extent phrase and just proclaims that the violator will be prosecuted, well we would be right back where I began with the D.A. I have known some D.A.s over time of whom police officers have been downright scornful because of their unwillingness to prosecute cases. It seems having a sign that says: “Violators might be prosecuted,” or “Violators might be prosecuted if the D.A. is not a jackass,” may be more accurate. The value of such phrases as a deterrent, of course, might be questionable.
I am sure those who know the law much more than me (or even those who don’t know) might question my questioning of the concept. But the truth is, it really isn’t that important. Thus, I don’t really care.