Trends in Felony Case Processing in the 1990s

• NCJ Number: 205518
• Author(s): Marian J. Gewirtz
• Date Published: December 2000
• Length: 39 pages
• Corporate Author: New York City Criminal Justice Agency, Inc
• Sale Source: New York City Criminal Justice Agency, Inc
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This report addresses trends in the characteristics of defendants in felony cases as well as their processing in the New York City criminal justice system in the 1990's.

Abstract

The datasets used for this study included approximately 2,000 docketed felony arrests selected from particular days in May of each sample year in the 4 largest New York City counties. The study assessed trends in arrest, arraignment and disposition, the Criminal Justice Agency (CJA) community ties rating, criminal history, arraignment outcomes (both disposition and release status), criminal and supreme court dispositions, and two measures of pretrial misconduct (i.e., failure to appear in court as scheduled and rearrest). The study found that trends in felony case processing in New York City in the 1990's involved decreased volume and a shift in arrest charges. Felony arrest charges were increasingly likely to be reduced to less than felony affidavit charges; however, disposition rates at arraignment did not change. By the end of the 1990's, defendants in felony arrests were older, and they had more prior felony and misdemeanor convictions. Recommendations for release on recognizance based on community ties increased, and release rates at arraignment decreased and then increased. Bail amounts were higher. The proportion of defendants given pretrial release increased for defendants who were eventually released on recognizance and decreased for those who eventually posted bail. Fewer felony arrests were prosecuted in the upper court in 1998 than in previous years; and fewer cases were left open, continued, or with open bench warrants. Conviction rates among cases disposed varied little by year. The proportion of convicted defendants sentenced to prison decreased through the 1990's while the proportion sentenced to a conditional discharge increased. Among those given a prison sentence, nearly one-third in the 1998 sample were sentenced to "time served," a higher proportion than in any previous year. Pretrial failure-to-appear rates declined. 37 tables