NCJ Number
192218
Journal
Criminal Justice Policy Review Volume: 12 Issue: 4 Dated: December 2001 Pages: 295-310
Date Published
December 2001
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This study examined the degree to which three types of variables affected prosecutors’ sentence preferences.
Abstract
The three types of variables identified as related to prosecutorial decision making in the screening and settlement stages of criminal case-processing include legal, extralegal, and resource variables. This research used data collected by the Institute for Law and Justice through a survey that received responses from a nationwide sample of 77 district attorneys. The participants reviewed a vignette and identified case factors that informed their preferred sentences, and specified a number of points to indicate the restrictiveness of the recommended sentence. The study used ordinary least squares regression to relate factors that prosecutors regarded as germane to forming sentence preferences to a measure of sentence restrictiveness. Results revealed a diminished reliance on legal and extralegal variables in the determination of preferred sentence. Instead, the available correctional placement options within a prosecutor’s jurisdiction, as well as the personal values of prosecutors, appeared to determine the level of sentence restrictiveness that prosecutors desired. Tables, notes, and 42 references (Author abstract modified)