A Study of Judicial Dominance of the Charging Process

McIntyre, Donald M.

doi:10.2307/1141828

Cited by 15 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…The impact of situational factors has also been demonstrated in studies of actual criminal justice decisions. One of the most consistent findings of such studies is that the closer the relationship between the victim and the offender, the less likely formal action will be taken by courts and prosecutors (McIntyre, 1968;Williams, 1976;Cannavale, 1976). As in the experimental studies cited, research based upon official records has found that offenders in cases involving provocation by the victim or greater blameworthiness of the victim were more likely to be treated less severely by prosecutors, judges, and juries ( Wolfgang, 1958;Kalven and Zeisel, 1971;Williams, 1976).…”

Section: Victim Characteristics and Criminal Justice Decisionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Victim and Offense Characteristics: Impact on Police Investigative Decision‐Making

1982

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Research on police decisionmaking has traditionally focused on the street-level police officer's decision to arrest. This decision has often been characterized as one having low visibility and is thus highly discretionary. Although the on-scene arrest is dramatic and f i t s the popular conception of policing, a great deal of police work involves follow-up investigatwns of citizen complaints. While decisions about the level of investigative effort to be applied to a particular complaint are also of low visibility and are highly discretionary, they have been the object of little research. Though it might be expected that these investigative decisions would be determined almost exclusively by the level of evidence available, previous research suggests that the personal characteristics of the victim or complainant also affect these decisions. Findings from this study indicate that victim characteristics differentially affect the investigative decision in various types of criminal complaints. Discussion focuses on the need in future research to consider extra-legal characteristics of victims and suggests an approach for such analyses.Police decision-making is generally characterized as highly discretionary, since in balancing concerns about due process with the individualization of justice, police must choose between different courses of action (Davis, 1969). These alternatives range from rather highly visible decisions about law enforcement strategies and priorities (Goldstein, 1963) to low visibility decisions to arrest(Goldstein, 1960). Highly visible

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Section: Victim Characteristics and Criminal Justice Decisionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Victim and Offense Characteristics: Impact on Police Investigative Decision‐Making

1982

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“…First, there is so much law that officials typically have far more to do than they have resources to do it with, so they tend to wait for complaints and to treat them as individual grievances. For example, the Fraud and Complaint Bureau described by McIntyre (1968) or the anti-discrimination commission described by Mayhew (1968). Cf.…”

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Why the “Haves” Come Out Ahead: Speculations on the Limits of Legal Change

Galanter¹

1974

Law Soc Rev

2,143

457

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“…The value of property losses and the costs (material and non-material) to victims are also important elements in the nature of the offense (Subin, 1966;McIntyre, 1968).…”

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Negotiating the guilty plea: a study of the process of felony case disposition in one urban court system

Farr¹

2000

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Interviews with prosecutors, public defenders and judges in the felony court system provided attitudinal data. Observations of guilty plea hearings and negotiation conferences allowed the researcher to record actual activities in the disposition process.The data indicated that the majority of cases were settled by guilty pleas and that the majority of guilty pleas involved some kind of bargain. Plea negotiation in this court system was routinized, formalized and highly structured. The bargaining process was prosecutor-dominated, in part due to the District Attorney Office policy which was noticeably inflexible in terms of bargaining criteria. The one commodity of power held by the defense attorney was strength of case. If the defense could find legal "loopholes" in the state I s case, the chances of the defendant getting a good deal improved. Tnis emphasis on legal factors appeared to strengthen the professional orientation as well as the adversary perspective of the opposing attorneys.Pleading guilty to a reduced charge resulted in the greatest likelihood of a defendant receiving a non-incarceration sentence.The majority of reductions were to offenses necessarily included Generally, the findings supported the theoretical assumption that disposition by guilty plea negotiation could fulfill functional needs of the court system within a legalistic framework. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSThe resources utilized in a research undertaking include the contributions of individuals whose input helps sustain the researcher as well as the research project. This dissertation was completed with the help of a number of individuals. The members of my faculty cormnittee--Don C. Gibbons, Grant M. Farr, Jerry W.Lansdowne and Gerald F. Blake--were continually available to offer advice and suggestions. In particular, I would like to express my deep appreciation to the committee chair, Don C. Gibbons, for his encouragement and support throughout my entire graduate experience.Kathy Grove is to be acknowledged for her efficiency in typing the manuscript in a short period of time and for her reassurances that we would (and we did) meet the graduation deadline. Additional sustenance was provided by Ivan Clark and by my children (Tori, Sheila and Erin Farr) , who lived with me and thus with the research project from its inception to its conclusion. Finally, the study could not have been done at all without the cooperation of the members of the court system under study who willingly participated as subjects and as resource advisors. The social scientific study of legal organizations is relatively new within the larger field of formal organizations research. In particular, the structured activities of the court system have" received little in-depth study until quite recently.However, in the last decade, several major works on the American court system have opened up the way for further study (Newman, 1966;Skolnick, 1966;Neubauer, 1974). It would be a mistake, however, to view the court system solely in terms of its legal mandate to work toward thes...

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A Study of Judicial Dominance of the Charging Process

Cited by 15 publications

References 0 publications

Victim and Offense Characteristics: Impact on Police Investigative Decision‐Making

Victim and Offense Characteristics: Impact on Police Investigative Decision‐Making

Why the “Haves” Come Out Ahead: Speculations on the Limits of Legal Change

Negotiating the guilty plea: a study of the process of felony case disposition in one urban court system

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