Case dismissal and noncarceral sentences: High volume, low visibility decision-making in a large urban court

IF 3.3 1区社会学 Q1 CRIMINOLOGY & PENOLOGY

Journal of Criminal Justice Pub Date : 2025-04-24 DOI:10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2025.102411

Richard D. Hartley, Marie Skubak Tillyer, Brandon Tregle, Michael R. Smith

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

While research on court outcomes has proliferated in the last half century, advancing knowledge of courtroom actor decision-making practices, gaps in understanding still exist in the criminal case processing literature. One of these areas relates to low visibility decisions by prosecutors to dismiss cases; another concerns sentencing outcomes at the county level where judges have wider discretion to impose noncarceral punishments. The current study examines prosecutorial decisions to dismiss cases, and judicial decisions to sentence defendants to probation, or deferred adjudication in a large urban county over a 6-year period (2017 to 2022). Results from multivariate models reveal that legal, extra-legal, and case processing factors were associated with dismissals and non-incarceration. We discuss the implications of these findings for case processing at the local level and current knowledge of courtroom actor discretion regarding high volume, low visibility decisions.

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案件驳回和非故意判决：在大型城市法院中，大量、低可见度的决策

在过去的半个世纪中，有关法庭结果的研究如雨后春笋般涌现，增进了人们对法庭行为人决策实践的了解，但在刑事案件处理方面的文献中仍存在认识上的差距。其中一个领域与检察官驳回案件的低能见度决定有关；另一个领域涉及县一级的量刑结果，在县一级，法官拥有更广泛的自由裁量权来施加非监禁处罚。本研究考察了一个大城市县在 6 年内（2017 年至 2022 年）检察官做出的撤案决定，以及司法部门做出的对被告判处缓刑或延期判决的决定。多变量模型的结果表明，法律、法律外和案件处理因素与撤案和不判刑有关。我们讨论了这些发现对地方一级案件处理的影响，以及目前对法庭行为人在高工作量、低能见度决定方面的自由裁量权的了解。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Journal of Criminal Justice CRIMINOLOGY & PENOLOGY-

CiteScore

6.90

自引率

9.10%

发文量

审稿时长

23 days

期刊介绍： The Journal of Criminal Justice is an international journal intended to fill the present need for the dissemination of new information, ideas and methods, to both practitioners and academicians in the criminal justice area. The Journal is concerned with all aspects of the criminal justice system in terms of their relationships to each other. Although materials are presented relating to crime and the individual elements of the criminal justice system, the emphasis of the Journal is to tie together the functioning of these elements and to illustrate the effects of their interactions. Articles that reflect the application of new disciplines or analytical methodologies to the problems of criminal justice are of special interest. Since the purpose of the Journal is to provide a forum for the dissemination of new ideas, new information, and the application of new methods to the problems and functions of the criminal justice system, the Journal emphasizes innovation and creative thought of the highest quality.