NCJ Number
132210
Journal
Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 18 Issue: 4 Dated: (1990) Pages: 359-368
Date Published
1990
Length
10 pages
Annotation
Data obtained from the Research and Documentation Centre of the Ministry of Justice in the Netherlands were analyzed to determine how defendant and/or case characteristics influence the sentencing recommendations of prosecutors in the Netherlands and to illustrate how these characteristics might be used in the formation of prosecutorial guidelines.
Abstract
The Netherlands example highlights the power of the prosecutor and assumes that the primary decisions are made at the prosecutorial level. Pretrial detention and pretrial investigation emerged as important to the recommendation process. Defendants detained before trial were more likely to receive harsher sentences. As there is a pretrial investigation only when the defendant denies his/her guilt, it is more likely to be done for serious crimes. For all sentences in totality, the decision about the need to detain and the need to build a case appear to have been crucial in the recommendation process. Reforms directed toward the prosecutor and based on actual prosecutorial decisionmaking processes may have more impact on this decisionmaking than other kinds of reforms. 6 tables and 25 references (Author abstract modified)