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Judge's Role in Plea Bargaining: An Analysis of Judges' Agreement With Prosecutors' Sentencing Recommendations

NCJ Number
158208
Journal
Justice Quarterly Volume: 12 Issue: 2 Dated: (June 1995) Pages: 257-278
Author(s)
A P Worden
Date Published
1922
Length
22 pages
Annotation
This study used data from Georgia's Superior Courts to examine the impact of attitudes, professional socialization, and court environment on judges' acceptance of prosecutorial recommendations for sentences in felony cases.
Abstract
The judicial attitudes measured here related to the trade-off between the values of crime control and due process, plea bargaining, and defendants. The results showed that judges' attitudes about the leniency and coerciveness of plea bargaining, and about the trade-off between crime control and due process, had only a moderate effect on their willingness to cooperate with prosecutors' attempts to negotiate pleas. The measure of judges' attitudes toward defendants had no influence on their behavior. It also appeared that judges' career socialization experiences, and their current working relationships with prosecutors and probation officers had little effect on their courtroom practices. 1 table, 14 notes, and 77 references

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