NCJ Number
101912
Date Published
1984
Length
41 pages
Annotation
As part of an international cross-cultural comparison of prosecutorial decisionmaking, this study uses decision simulation methods to compare police prosecutorial decisionmaking in England's Devon and Cornwall Constabulary (rural) and the Greater Manchester Police Force (urban).
Abstract
In England and Wales, the police are prosecutors as well as law enforcers, so this study focuses on prosecutorial screening in two British police agencies. The study began in Devon and Cornwall in 1982 and in Greater Manchester during 1984. Samples of police across ranks in the two departments (100 for Devon and Cornwall and 148 for Greater Manchester) were questioned about prosecutorial decisions pertaining to 30 cases in a standard set. Questions on each case focused on priority for prosecution, factors in setting priority, strength of the evidence, severity of the defendant's record, who would make the prosecution decision, likely case disposition, sentencing, and time served. The prioritizing of the cases across the two departments were remarkably uniform, and nearly 80 percent of the respondents considered case facts to be the most important factor in setting case priority. There was also consistency in appraising defendants' criminal records. Respondents were similar in evaluating the strength of the evidence, but respondents in the rural force were more likely to anticipate a guilty plea than those in the urban force. The urban respondents anticipated more severe sentences than did those in the rural force. Appendixes contain descriptions of the two forces and four case descriptions. 7-item bibliography.