NCJ Number
152353
Date Published
1993
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This report focuses on some of the quantifiable effects of Proposition 115, the Crime Victims Justice Reform Act adopted by California voters in June 1990, on the caseloads of California trial courts.
Abstract
The law was intended to reduce delays, insure just punishment for violent offenders, and improve services to victims and witnesses. Using time-series statistical techniques, the analysis focused on felony filings, preliminary hearings, dismissals of criminal cases, and criminal trials and their outcomes. Results revealed that Proposition 115 apparently had little effect on the filing practices in municipal courts. The analysis also revealed a significant increase in the rate of dismissals for criminal cases in superior courts. No support was found for the prediction that the proposition would result in more criminal trials. However, the law may have had the effect of increasing the probability of an acquittal for criminal cases tried by jury beyond the level that would have been attained had the law not been passed. Because other changes also occurred in the California criminal justice system in the time period study, periodic studies are needed to evaluate the impacts of Proposition 115 in relation to the changes in the California criminal court system. Figures, tables, and footnotes