Key facts
43
States where voters elect the attorney general
Ballotpedia
4 years
Term of a US attorney
28 U.S.C. § 541(b)
120 days
Longest an interim US attorney picked by the attorney general can serve
28 U.S.C. § 546(c)
Enforcing the law and prosecuting cases
Police officers and sheriffs enforce criminal laws and investigate crimes. Prosecutors take the next step: they decide who is charged with a crime and whether a case goes to trial. They also represent the government in criminal cases, and a judge or jury then decides the case. Some of these officials are elected and others are appointed, as the sections below explain.
Sheriffs
A sheriff usually heads a county office. In most states, county voters elect the sheriff, usually for a 4-year TermThe fixed length of time an official serves in office. A US representative’s term is 2 years, a senator’s is 6 years and the president’s is 4 years.Read more in the glossary. Duties vary by state. In Texas, for example, sheriffs enforce state criminal law, run county jails, provide court security and serve warrants. In New York, sheriffs mainly serve as officers of the courts, carrying out court orders. A few states have no county sheriffs at all; Connecticut, for example, eliminated its county sheriffs in 2000.
Police chiefs
A police chief leads a city, town, borough or township police department, and local law decides who chooses the chief. In a Pennsylvania borough, for example, the borough council may name one of its police officers as chief. The mayor then has “full charge and control” of the chief and the police force. To learn who picks the chief where you live, check your local CharterA document, adopted under state law, that sets up a local government’s structure and powers. In Pennsylvania, voters adopt or change a home rule charter by referendum.Read more in the glossary or state law.
District attorneys and attorneys general
The local chief prosecutor goes by different titles, such as DistrictAn area set up for a purpose, such as the area whose voters elect one representative or the area a school district or other special district serves.Read more in the glossary attorney, county attorney, commonwealth attorney or state’s attorney. In many states, voters elect this official. Pennsylvania’s ConstitutionThe highest law of a country or state. It sets up the government, divides its powers and protects rights, and the United States and each state have their own.Read more in the glossary provides for an elected district attorney with a 4-year term in counties without a home rule charter or optional plan. In Connecticut, a state commission appoints all prosecutors. Voters elect the state attorney general in 43 states. Maine’s legislature and Tennessee’s supreme court choose theirs, and governors appoint the rest.
Federal prosecutors and marshals
Each federal judicial district has a US attorney, who prosecutes federal crimes there and handles the federal government’s civil cases. The president appoints US attorneys, with the Senate’s consent, to 4-year terms and can remove them. If the office is vacant, the US attorney general may appoint an interim US attorney for up to 120 days under 28 U.S.C. § 546. After that, the district court may appoint a US attorney until the vacancy is filled. US marshals, also appointed by the president with Senate consent, protect federal courts and enforce their orders.
The President shall appoint, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, a United States attorney for each judicial district.
Questions people ask
Is a sheriff the same as a police chief?
Who chooses the district attorney?
Is a US attorney elected?
Who chooses a state attorney general?
Sources
Checked November 4, 2026. Primary sources first, then official records, then nonpartisan research.
How these facts were checked: our promise. Every substantive fix is listed on the corrections page.
Keep going
Courts
What is the difference between federal and state courts?
How federal and state court systems are organized, which cases each one hears, how judges are chosen and when a case can reach the US Supreme Court.
Courts
Are judges elected or appointed?
How federal judges, federal magistrate judges and state judges are chosen, and how Pennsylvania’s elected magisterial district judges differ.
Offices
Which US government offices are elected?
Voters elect members of Congress, governors, legislators and many local officials, while other officials are appointed. See which offices are elected.