Court Caseloads, Plea Bargains, and Criminal Sanctions - The Effects of Section 17 PC in California

• NCJ Number: 100387
• Journal: Criminology Volume: 23 Issue: 1 Dated: (February 1985) Pages: 119-143
• Author(s): J W Meeker; H N Pontell
• Date Published: 1985
• Length: 0 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Note: Revised version of a paper presented at the meeting of the Smerican Society of Criminology, November, 1982, Toronto, Canada.

Annotation

In an effort to relieve its overburdened superior courts, California introduced a statutory amendment which allowed lesser felonies to be dealt with in lower-level courts.

Abstract

Using an interrupted time-series methodology, this study examines the impact of this change in law on caseloads, plea bargaining, conviction rates, and sentencing in the superior courts. After the statutory intervention, there was a reduction in superior court caseloads, but the overall rate of plea bargaining remained relatively constant. However, there were substantial changes in types of plea bargains with a decline in fast pleas and a corresponding rise in slow pleas. It was also found that severity of sanctions was related to the changing caseload patterns. Policy and theoretical implications of these and other findings are discussed. (Publisher abstract)