NCJ Number
89473
Date Published
Unknown
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This evaluation of a structured plea negotiation project in Jefferson County, Ky., yielded inconclusive results, because the design as implemented did not produce the expected 400 conferences.
Abstract
The concept of the structured plea negotiation proposed that all plea negotiations occur before a judge and that the victim, defendant, and police officer be invited to attend. Five test judges and 13 control judges were used. Of 1,434 defendants randomly selected, 515 were assigned to the use of a structured plea negotiation conference, and 919 were assigned to a control group that was processed in the accustomed manner of pretrial settlement. Conferences were held for 282 of the 515 defendants in the test group. The staff believed more conferences were not convened because of the seriousness of some cases, inconsistent conference scheduling by the test judges, settlement of some cases before the conference date, and the indifference of some professional participants toward the project. Preliminary statistics and participants' opinions support these beliefs. Of the conferences held, 44 percent ended in settlement. More settlements were not reached because of a lack of preconference open discovery, a lack of professional participant willingness to conduct negotiations in good faith, and differences in judicial conference facilitation styles. Defendants were in attendance at all conferences, while police officers attended 40 percent, and victims attended 18 percent of the conferences. The staff believed victims did not appear more often because of victim apathy, the type of case, and the prosecution's failure to invite some victims. Although the low number of conferences does not meet evaluation standards, it still appears that the conference concept was not a generally preferred means of handling cases. Tabular data are provided.