Cutback Management - An Empirical Approach

• NCJ Number: 92957
• Author(s): E C Ratledge
• Date Published: 1981
• Length: 16 pages
• Grant Number(s): 81-IJ-CX-0032
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute of Justice (NIJ); US Dept of Justice NIJ Pub
• Corporate Author: Jefferson Institute for Justice Studies
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Paper presented to the 1981 Annual Conference of the American Society of Public Administration, Detroit, Michigan, April 13-15.

Annotation

The differences in resources required to achieve various dispositions are significant. Penalties are also related to resources.

Abstract

With spending cuts firmly in place, the improvement of public sector productivity as a technique to reduce costs has become one of critical importance. Since government services are typically labor intensive, improving productivity will be a slow, difficult process. A conceptual framework is presented for cutback management. Study methodology consisted of taking the detailed data kept by an Iowa prosecutor and inserting it into the model. The prosecutor has three routes to follow to disposition: plea, trial, and dismissal. The model shows that it costs twice as much to take a case to trial as to plead it. A reduced charge requires just as much effort as a more serious charge. Since a dismissal costs as much as a plea, it is cost effective to screen cases at the very beginning. The criminality of the defendant causes time to rise dramatically. Defending an offender with no record requires only half as much work. Criminality and seriousness of the offense were unrelated. The effort required to achieve a penalty of confinement is twice that required a plea and 50 percent more than for probation. Six tables are included.