NCJ Number
89572
Date Published
1982
Length
222 pages
Annotation
Judges at Brooklyn Criminal Court in New York tend to base their dispositions on probation officers' recommendations, especially regarding jail and probation decisions. Probation officers rely on such legal factors as number of arrests, poor adjustment in prior correctional programs, and pretrial status in their sentencing recommendations.
Abstract
The research studied judges' sentencing practices and probation officers' recommendations in 1,919 cases selected from 1972-1976. Both path and discriminant analysis were used, as well as a combination of dummy variables and variables measured on an interval level. The research was posed in a series of eight questions based on conflict theory, discrimination, and organizational theory. Findings indicate that judges and probation officers depend on regularities in their sentencing dispositions. That is, they depend on probation officers' recommendations, legal variables, seriousness of final charge for a sentence without a probation report, and extralegal variables. Both judges and probation officers were remarkably consistent in their sentencing dispositions and recommendations. Judges and probation officers share in sentencing decisions, since judges rely on probation officers' recommendations. No racial discrimination was apparent in the sentencing process. Study data, footnotes, an index, and about 120 references are provided. Zero order correlations and standard deviations are appended. (Author summary modified)