There followed appreciable changes in the way hospitals, the police and prosecutors treat victims.

"If judges start to write opinions that reflect a basic lack of confidence or trust in prosecutors, it is a great cause for concern."

And that, he believes, reflects badly on the criminal justice system in general and prosecutors in particular.

They would not generally call in federal prosecutors, and the events would not usually make the papers.

Plaintiffs' lawyers, long accustomed to public criticism and lawmakers' wrath, now face a new and more dangerous adversary in federal prosecutors.

They disagree, however, over who should have the final word in sentencing, judges or prosecutors.

Many of the workers are much in Mr. Giuliani's mold, lawyers and former prosecutors who began as political amateurs.

The most important attribute I looked for in hiring junior prosecutors was a strong ethical sense.

Sometimes, all the more frequently now as one case after another has shaken confidence in the police and prosecutors, the system's misjudgments are undone.

He said changes in prosecutors in other Federal jurisdictions did not necessarily mean the end of an investigation.