Political Participation and Government Responsiveness - The Behavior of California Superior Courts

• NCJ Number: 72927
• Journal: American Political Science Review Volume: 73 Issue: 4 Dated: (1979) Pages: 1090-1099
• Author(s): J H Kuklinsky; J E Stanga
• Date Published: 1979
• Length: 10 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: Wichita State University
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study was designed to determine how changes in aggregate sentencing decisions of California superior courts reflected prevailing public opinion after citizens expressed preferences on the marijuana issue.

Abstract

Students of democratic politics have long been concerned with the role of political participation in linking Government with the people it serves. Although participation is generally defined in terms of voting, this study defines participation as the communication of citizen preferences to public officeholders. The study required data on both the public's preferences and judicial decisions within a specific policy area. As a measure of opinion, aggregate voting returns on an initiative ballot proposition proposed during the 1972 general election to remove criminal penalties for the personal use of marijuana were analyzed. For each county, the percent support for marijuana use was determined. A measure of judicial policy for 1971, 1972, and 1973 was computed; the policy measure was the mean sentencing score of all decisions involving possession of marijuana convictions. Sentencing scores were computed for each superior court by year. The absolute changes in sentencing provide the most compelling evidence that the proposition vote, as a clear articulation of displayed appropriate and differential movement; those courts less in line with opinion in earlier years showed greater absolute change in sentencing behavior and adjusted their decisions in the predicted direction. The fact that members of the court are seemingly immune from any electoral criticism serves to underline the importance of this form of participation to a responsive system of Government. This same fact also cautions against conceiving of the participation-responsiveness relationship only in terms of punitive electoral devices. Tables, 18 footnotes, and approximately 25 references are included in the article. (Author abstract modified).