NCJ Number
102272
Journal
Criminal Justice Review Volume: 11 Issue: 1 Dated: (Spring 1986) Pages: 8-14
Date Published
1986
Length
7 pages
Annotation
Analysts of courtroom processes typically focus on the predictive power of legal and extra-legal determinants upon actual case outcomes.
Abstract
The present research, by looking at practitioner responses to hypothetical felony cases, focuses on adversariness and local legal culture as predictors of attitudes toward case disposition time and sentencing. First, we examine Church's (1982) findings regarding legal cultures with the inclusion of statistical controls, absent in his analyses. Second, we examine four issues salient to practitioners: preferred pace of litigation, preferred sentence for guilty pleas, attitudes toward 'just deserts,' and practitioner interpersonal relations. Using the Eisenstein and Jacob (1977) typology of workgroup goals, indicants of these issues are separated into two categories: expressive and instrumental. We find that instrumental aspects are most strongly predicted by courtroom identity, in support of local legal culture. On the other hand, expressive aspects are most affected by practitioner type, in support of the adversarial model. (Author abstract)