NCJ Number
82107
Journal
Criminal Justice Review Volume: 6 Issue: 1 Dated: (Spring 1981) Pages: 26-35
Date Published
1982
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This study explains the prosecutorial decisionmaking process in one middle-sized midwestern city by applying to the operation of this office the precepts of Cyert and March's 'A Behavioral Theory of the Firm' (1963).
Abstract
The author finds that this office behaves in ways remarkably similar to those of the business firms Cyert and March examined. The article describes how the Middle County prosecutor follows Cyert and March's principles of avoiding uncertainty by using standardized decision rules; avoiding over-complexity by keeping these rules simple, while relying on professional judgment to determine to what extent to modify them in particular cases; and avoiding learning costs by resisting changes in the rules. One of the most important rules was 'We'll give anybody half for pleading guilty.' Data are presented to show that this rule was consistently followed from 1968-73. Although the author's own observations covered only a single jurisdiction, his review of the published literature on prosecution leads him to conclude that many, it not most, other prosecutors' offices behave in similar fashion. Therefore, the behavioral theory may prove to be a useful approach to prosecution generally as well as in Middle County. Study data and about 40 references are furnished. (Author abstract)