NCJ Number
75279
Date Published
1975
Length
117 pages
Annotation
This final report describes a project which was aimed at reducing pretrial delays in the demonstration cities of New Haven, Connecticut; Norfolk, Virginia; and Salt Lake City, Utah.
Abstract
The project, which was initiated in 1973, formalized the procedure of plea bargaining through the cooperation of prosecuting and defense attorneys in order to reduce the average length of time between arrest and indictment and to reduce the felony dockets of trial courts by 25 percent through early disposition. Project activities in each of the cities are described in individual sections. The results showed than the demonstration procedures, which were adapted to local institutions and needs, were responsible for the speedier dispositions of criminal cases. In two of the cities, the project intervention also resulted in a marked change in the handling of criminal cases both from prosecution and defense perspectives and in the attention given by the system to persons accused of crimes as well as their victims. The effect of the project on the quality of justice cannot be determined; however, it is assumed that a review of a case by prosecutors where none had previously existed represents an improvement from the community's perspective, and that defense intervention on behalf of a defendant within days rather than weeks of an arrest constitutes an improvement in defense services. In addition, earlier intervention may represent a diminution of a defendant's ability to beat the system on grounds other than the lack of merit in the State's case. The project's early disposition procedures are recommended for other cities which are experiencing a delay problem. Footnotes are included and data tables are appended. (Related document -- see NCJRS 75280).