Skip to main content

Interstate Commissioner for Audlt Offender Supervision (ICAOS) Logo

Bench Book - 5.3.5 Prosecutorial Immunity

Like judges, prosecutors have absolute immunity from lawsuits seeking money damages. Imbler v. Pachtman, 424 U.S. 409 (1986). That immunity allows prosecutors to exercise the independence of judgment essential to their work—and to avoid the deluge of retaliatory lawsuits that criminal defendants would undoubtedly file against them were they not immune. Prosecutorial immunity extends to probation violation proceedings, Hamilton v. Daley, 777 F.2d 1207 (7th Cir. 1985), including proceedings related to a probationer who transferred under the Compact, Tobey v. Chibucos, 890 F.3d 634 (7th Cir. 2018).

References