NCJ Number
79217
Date Published
1980
Length
20 pages
Annotation
Decisionmaking uniformity and consistency are examined in the Wayne County, Michigan prosecutor's office.
Abstract
Consistency is defined as the extent of agreement between the assistants and the policymaker, and uniformity is defined as the amount of agreeement among the assistants independent of a comparison to the leader. The test, which was conducted on December 18, 1979, produced 103 responses (102 assistants and the deputy chief of the Warrant Section) to each of the 30 cases administered in the standard case set. The priority scale showed that a full range of cases was presented to the prosecutors, from lowest to highest priority, and that the statistical tendency to normalize distributions at the average level was not violated. Both of these conditions give credibility to the subsequent analysis. The decisionmaking outcomes examined were (1) the priority of the case for prosecution, (2) accepting a case for prosecution, (3) case disposed of by plea, (4) case reduced to a lesser charge, (5) disposition by trial, and (6) recommendation for incarceration. Analysis of the factors considered by the assistants in decisionmaking shows that the office staff is behaving in a rational and predictable manner and that decisions are based on factors that are logically consistent and related. High levels of uniformity and consistency are shown with respect to all variables. Results show that the prosecutor's policy is known to the assistants and has been integrated into the assistants' decisionmaking. Background information is provided on the structure and operation of the office, and tabular data are included.