NCJ Number
86398
Date Published
1982
Length
134 pages
Annotation
The processing of 2,552 defendants through the criminal justice system of a large midwestern city was studied to identify the criteria that affected dispositions, pleas, and sentencing, and particularly the differences in criteria for processing male and female defendants.
Abstract
The sample contained all defendants processed between October 1978 and November 1979. A total of 67.6 percent were convicted, while 32.4 percent were either dismissed or found not guilty. Final disposition and sentencing were assessed with reference to the justice model, while plea bargaining was examined in reference to propositions developed in past research. Although the justice model suggests that evidence should be the major determinant of conviction, it was found that such process dimensions as the size of the prosecutors' caseloads and the number of continuances, the type of offense, and the age of the defendants were the most important predictors of convictions. However, these variables explained only 9 percent of the variance in final dispositions. Females were convicted slightly more often than males, particularly when charged with female-dominated offenses such as larceny and fraud/forgery. Plea bargaining was common for both males and females. Men received harsher sentences even when controls were made for differences between the types of offenses committed by men and women. Male dispositions were more predictable than female dispositions. For males, the chances of being committed to prison were greatest for those charged with offenses against the person and least for males charged with victimless offenses. Females convicted of victimless offenses were sent to prison more often than females convicted of property offenses. Findings did not support the justice model. Data suggest the importance of bureaucratic pressures to process defendants efficiently as well as biases based on personal characteristics of defendants. Footnotes and data tables are included.