The grand jury has three functions: charging, investigating, . Charging is the issuing of an indictment, the grand jury's equivalent of a criminal complaint, against a specific person targeted by the prosecutor for a specific crime. Investigating entails inquiring into an entire area of suspicious activity to see if any wrongdoing has occurred and, if so, by whom. The third function involves the grand jury's authority to oversee and issue reports on the local jail and other public offices and officials. and supervising (p.472)