USA: Private Prosecution of Criminal Conduct

In the USA, unlike Germany, Japan, and many other nations, victims ordinarily play a very limited role in the prosecution of crimes. Indeed, victims have so little prosecutorial authority that a growing ‘victims' rights‘ movement calls for constitutional amendments to give victims more control over criminal trials. Yet American law features some important exceptions to this general rule — for many environmental and white‐collar crimes, private citizens can bring actions to enforce the law. What makes these actions unique is the absence of ‘standing’ requirements that oblige the plaintiff to demonstrate that he or she was directly harmed by the criminal's actions.