Prior Record and Court Processes - The Role of Latent Theory in Criminology Research

• NCJ Number: 86035
• Journal: Sociology and Social Research Volume: 67 Issue: 1 Dated: (October 1982) Pages: 40-58
• Author(s): P M Horan; M A Myers; M Farnworth
• Date Published: 1982
• Length: 19 pages
• Grant Number(s): 76-NI-99-0071
• Sponsoring Agency: US Dept of Justice
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This paper critically examines two latent theoretical assumptions underlying contemporary research on court processes: (1) that legal and social factors in criminal justice processes are empirically and conceptually separable; and (2) that such factors operate in a uniform fashion throughout criminal processing.

Abstract

We focus on the defendant's prior criminal record as an important example of a factor traditionally conceptualized as 'legal' and distinguished from social factors. We use a covariance analysis of the effects of prior record on several court processes to examine the interplay between prior record and defendant's social background. Our analysis demonstrates that prior record operates to condition the impact of social factors on criminal justice processes. Thus social and legal factors are not as readily separable as is typically assumed. Moreover, we find considerable variation in the determinants of courts processing from one stage to the next, suggesting that the choice of stage for analysis may condition findings. We conclude with a consideration of the implications of our findings for research aimed at evaluating major theoretical models of the criminal justice process, and for research within alternative frameworks. (Author abstract)