Is It a Prosecutors World?: Determinants of Count Bargaining Decisions

• NCJ Number: 215789
• Journal: Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice Volume: 22 Issue: 3 Dated: August 2006 Pages: 241-260
• Author(s): Jeremy D. Ball
• Date Published: August 2006
• Length: 20 pages
• Grant Number(s): SBR-93321852
• Sponsoring Agency: National Science Foundation
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study examined the relationship between offender characteristics and plea negotiations in 2,578 guilty pleas in Chicago, IL, in 1993.

Abstract

The findings showed no statistically significant relationships between offender characteristics and the likelihood of receiving a charge reduction in exchange for a guilty plea. This suggests that prosecutors do not make their decisions to drop the number of initial charges based on an offender's race/ethnicity, sex, age, and employment status, regardless of offense severity. Instead, prosecutors rely primarily on legally relevant factors, but only for the least serious cases. These findings indicate that the prosecutors in the cases examined did not attempt to use their discretion in plea bargaining in order to avoid compliance with Illinois' determinate sentencing scheme. Possible explanations are offered for prosecutors' strategies in the plea negotiations examined. The author notes that important differences in plea negotiations may be masked by straight pleas (without negotiation) and symbolic plea bargaining; therefore, it is important in future research to include measures of undercharging and overcharging practices as well as measures of trial convictions in order to address straight guilty plea decisions. This study was an analysis of secondary data collected as part of a larger project that studied sentencing in three large urban counties in 1993, including Cook County (Chicago, IL). The dependent variable was the likelihood of receiving a count reduction, i.e., whether the number of charges was reduced. There were three general categories of independent variables: offender characteristics, case characteristics, and case processing characteristics. Offender characteristics included race and ethnicity, sex, age, employment status, and number of prior felony convictions. Logistic regression analysis was used to measure the effect of offender characteristics on plea bargaining. 4 tables, 11 notes, and 49 references