Decision To Charge and Sanction Older and Younger Offenders: A Comparison of Prosecutors and Students

• NCJ Number: 110812
• Author(s): K E Gewerth
• Date Published: 1988
• Length: 55 pages
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, San Francisco, California, April 4-8, 1988.

Annotation

A questionnaire survey of 112 prosecutors and undergraduate and law school students in 3 metropolitan areas in both the northern and southern parts of the United States sought to determine the effects of the offender's age and other factors on prosecutorial decisionmaking regarding charges and sentencing recommendations.

Abstract

Each questionnaire consisted of 30 brief vignettes describing hypothetical crimes and the offenders committing them. Respondents used a 9-point scale to indicate their views regarding prosecuting the offender and the most appropriate sanction. The offenders ranged in age from 19 to 75. Possible sanctions included probation, a brief jail sentence, imprisonments, psychiatric inpatient treatment, and another sanction of the respondent's choice. The seriousness of the offense and the existence of a prior record were the factors that generally controlled the decision to charge. Advanced age and the presence of some form of mental impairment had only small influences in reducing the subject's willingness to prosecute and choice of a more lenient punishment. Discussion of study limitations, tables, and 24 references.