Norfolk District Attorney's Office - Career Criminal Unit Final Report to the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, November 1, 1981

• NCJ Number: 82041
• Author(s): W D Delahunt
• Date Published: 1981
• Length: 27 pages
• Grant Number(s): 80-PG-AX-0057
• Sponsoring Agency: US Dept of Justice; Massachusetts Cmtte on Criminal Justice
• Corporate Author: Norfolk Cty District Attorney's Office
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/
• Publication Type: Program/Project Evaluation
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This report describes the purpose, content, and results of the Norfolk County Career Criminal Program (Massachusetts), which was funded from July 1979 to September 1981 by LEAA and was abolished due to the State legislature's decision not to provide funds for the proposed State assumption of the program.

Abstract

The program was established as a LEAA demonstration project, based on the recognition that a small percentage of offenders commit a large percentage of crimes and that the traditional means for dealing with these offenders are ineffective. The program used experienced prosecutors, who focused on the crimes of robbery, burglary, breaking and entering, kidnapping, and aggravated assault. The program excluded rape and sexual assault because these crimes were under another special unit's jurisdiction. Homicide was rejected because it does not usually involve repeat offenders. The program prosecuted only repeat offenders and tried to expedite prosecution by having the assigned prosecutor make every critical decision in the process and by screening appropriate cases immediately after charges were filed in the district court. The most serious offense was designated as the lead charge, and incarceration was the goal of all prosecutions. All unreasonable requests for case continuance were opposed as a matter of policy. To enhance the confidence of victims and witnesses, a staff member with a social work background was designated as a fulltime victim/witness coordination. The program accepted 165 cases involving 180 defendants. A total of 152 cases and 166 defendants had been fully prosecuted by the time the unit was disbanded. Over 90 percent of the defendants were found guilty, 1.8 percent were acquitted, 0.6 percent were dismissed by the court, and 4.2 percent were dismissed at the prosecutor's request when the victim refused to testify in court. Most of the convicted defendants were incarcerated. The project demonstrated that the concept of the career criminal program works as well in a largely suburban setting as it has worked in major urban areas. It can be managed without extraordinary cost or loss of prosecutor productivity. Tables and footnotes are provided.