NCJ Number
92248
Journal
Sociological Quarterly Issue: 24 Dated: (Spring 1983) Pages: 233-251
Date Published
1983
Length
19 pages
Annotation
The bureaucratic characteristics of the court process are examined as achievement of face-to-face interactions in a courtroom where plea bargaining and other official and unofficial activities occur.
Abstract
Bargaining sessions are insulated from intrusion by standard practices which protect focused interactions. Defendants are 'processed' not in any automatic way, but by carefully orchestrated lines of interactions, which render those defendants indistinguishable to judges and other observers. These features are due not to 'overcrowding,' but to the way conduct is organized in the court. Defendants' contributions to the courtroom's social order are related to character assessment, a central activity in plea bargaining. (Author abstract)