NCJ Number
77266
Date Published
1980
Length
72 pages
Annotation
A summary report of the Career Criminal Program National Evaluation, this paper reviews indepth analyses of four such programs in Orleans Parish, La.; San Diego, Calif.; Franklin County, Ohio; and Kalamazoo County, Mich.
Abstract
The Career Criminal Program is a LEAA-funded effort which provides resources to local prosecutors' offices to identify and rigorously prosecute serious, repeat offenders. The process and impacts of the Career Criminal Program in the four jurisdictions mentioned were evaluated in terms of an assessment of program activities and criminal justice system performance. The report describes the Career Criminal target population in each jurisdiction, as well as each program's case handling methods and impact on criminal justice processing. Findings indicate that prosecutors in the four jurisdictions all endorse the concept of targeting serious criminal defendants for special attention but differ in how they define their career criminal population. The quality of Career Criminal Program implementation has been good in each jurisdiction, due in part to the autonomy given prosecutors in designing program activities. However, analyses of four areas of potential program effects on criminal justice system performance -- mode and type of disposition, strength of conviction, sentencing, and processing time -- reveal that few changes were associated with the four programs analyzed. Increasing prosecutorial attention to career criminals will not necessarily increase the conviction and incapacitation rates for these cases, although the program may increase the strength of the convictions obtained and can result in the imposition of longer sentences. Furthermore, regarding the ability of the prosecutor to effect the kinds of changes envisioned for the program, evidence suggests that the greatest prosecutor leverage may be in affecting the strength of convictions (i.e., by refusing to plea bargain). However, further impact on criminal justice system performance cannot be gained through prosecutorial attention alone but depends on cooperation from other components of the justice system. Footnotes, tabular data, and a chart are provided. For the full final report of the national evaluation, see NCJ 77265.