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The book discusses the exercise of discretion, the influence of the values of law enforcement officials, and the potential for arbitrary behavior in the administration of justice.
The exercise of discretion in the criminal justice system and related agencies often plays a key part in decisions which are made, but definitions of discretion are not clear, and despite widespread recognition of its importance there is much controversy on its nature and legitimacy. This book seeks to explore the importance of discretion to an understanding of the nature of the 'making of justice' in theory and practice, taking as its starting point the wide discretionary powers wielded by many of the key players in the criminal justice and related systems. It focuses on the core elements and contexts of discretion, looking at the power, ability, authority and duties of individuals, officials and organisations to decide, select or interpret vague standards, requirements or statutory uncertainties.
Traces the history of attempts since the 1950s to control the discretionary powers in the US criminal justice system. The author synthesizes the findings of a large body of literature for the benefit of practitioners and interested students of the criminal justice system.
The study of decisions in the criminal justice process provides a useful focus for the examination of many fundamental aspects of criminal jus tice. These decisions are not always highly visible. They are made, or dinarily, within wide areas of discretion. The aims of the decisions are not always clear, and, indeed, the principal objectives of these decisions are often the subject of much debate. Usually they are not guided by explicit decision policies. Often the participants are unable to verbalize the basis for the selection of decision alternatives. Adequate information for the decisions is usually unavailable. Rarely can the decisions be demonstrated to be rational. By a rationaldecision we mean "that decision among those possible for the decisionmaker which, in the light of the information available, maximizes the probability of the achievement of the purpose of the decisionmaker in that specific and particular case" (Wilkins, 1974a: 70; also 1969). This definition, which stems from statistical decision theory, points to three fundamental characteristics of decisions. First, it is as sumed that a choice of possible decisions (or, more precisely, of possible alternatives) is available. If only one choice is possible, there is no de cision problem, and the question of rationality does not arise. Usually, of course, there will be a choice, even if the alternative is to decide not to decide-a choice that, of course, often has profound consequences.
This dissertation examines how three systems of criminal procedure shape the exercise of discretion in the criminal justice system. Chapter 1 considers the relationship between sentencing guidelines and judicial sentencing decisions. Using simulation modeling, it challenges a widely held belief that robust sentencing guidelines increase uniformity in sentencing at the cost of fairness. Chapter 2 turns to police regulation. Police departments and policymakers have implemented a range of mechanisms to regulate police discretion, but much of the scholarly literature has expressed skepticism about their effectiveness. One regulatory approach has largely escaped scrutiny--prosecutorial screening. This study examines the effect of prosecutorial screening on police charge decisions in one major metropolitan city in the United States. Exploiting the fact that the screening program only applies to suspects over seventeen years of age, it compares suspects arrested just a few weeks before and a few weeks after their seventeenth birthday. The analysis reveals a drop in felony charges against suspects arrested just after the age boundary for crimes subject to prosecutorial screening. The same pattern is not observed for crimes not subject to screening, suggesting that officers file lesser charges against suspects over seventeen years of age in anticipation of the stringent screening process. Chapter 3 explores the role of discovery rights on the plea bargaining process. It begins by extending prior work on civil discovery to develop a theory of criminal discovery. It then conducts the first systematic empirical investigation of the effects of expanding criminal discovery on case outcomes in one state that recently enacted legislation granting defendants wider discovery rights. A series of difference-in-differences models comparing felony and misdemeanor courts provide little evidence that the law promoted judicial efficiency by reducing the trial rate or that it produced more favorable outcomes for defendants by increasing the dismissal rate.
Examines the causes for mass incarceration of Americans and calls for the reform of the bail system. Traces the history of bail, how it has come to be an oppressive tool of the courts, and makes recommendations for reforming the bail system and alleviating the mass incarceration problem.