Standard Case Set - A Technique for Measuring the Dimensions of a Prosecutor's Office (From Prosecutorial Decisionmaking - Selected Readings, P 1-26, 1980, Joan E Jacoby, ed. - See NCJ-79210)

• NCJ Number: 79211
• Author(s): J E Jacoby
• Date Published: 1980
• Length: 24 pages
• Grant Number(s): 78-NI-AX-0006
• Sponsoring Agency: US Dept of Justice
• Corporate Author: Bureau of Social Science Research, Inc
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: A paper presented to the American Society of Criminology's 1979 Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, November 7-9, 1979. Available on microfiche as NCJ-79210.

Annotation

Methodology and findings are presented from a study that used the standard case set as a tool for measuring the relationship between prosecutorial charging policies and dispositional events and for differentiating among various prosecutorial decisionmaking styles.

Abstract

The two test instruments developed for this project were a standard case set and a case evaluation form. The standard case set consists of 160 criminal cases of varying type and seriousness presented in a 'statement-of-fact' format. Each case contains enough information to satisfy an adversarial type of probable cause hearing, but not necessarily enough for proof beyond a reasonable doubt at trial. The set also includes criminal histories of 100 defendants in a form similar to police arrest records. The case evaluation form collects information about each case's priority for prosecution, probable acceptance for prosecution, and expected disposition. By developing a set of cases rather than using actual files, it is possible to control the effects of different external factors on the types of cases presented for prosecution; to standardize the quality, content, and format of the information presented for evaluation; to control the type of cases presented; to record all the independent variables pertaining to the case set only once; and to modify and refine the information until it attains its highest analytical power. The standard case set was administered to 356 assistant prosecutors in 4 jurisdictions. Each assistant responded to a set of 30 cases, 24 of which were identical for all offices. Results show that the case set can measure the amount of internal agreement among decisionmakers in an office and has the power to support comparative studies. Further, the standard case set captures the factors assumed to be important in prosecutorial decisionmaking, including those that specify the seriousness of the offense, the evidentiary strength of the case, and the seriouness of the defendant's criminal history. Tabular data and a sample case are appended.