CRM J 205 1st Edition Lecture 20 Outline of Last Lecture I Side Point Risk Assessments in the Court II Baxstrom v Herold Case III Sex Offenders IV Research Problems Outline of Current Lecture I Decisions Regarding Counsel and Bail II Pretrial Detention III Charging and Plea Bargaining IV San Jose Mercury News Study 1991 700 000 cases Current Lecture I II Decisions Regarding Counsel and Bail a Bail Reform 1st reform 1960s Stressed reducing pretrial detention b Political wind shift 1970s Stressed increased crime control c 1980s 34 states allowed to judges to deny bail to defendants considered dangerous No guarantee judges do not take race ethnicity into account d Discrimination Thesis DT 12 Studies e Blacks and Hispanics more often required to post cash or surety bonds Bail Bondsman 10 Down f Bail Amounts were generally higher despite the fact that they earned less than whites more economic burden g No Discrimination Thesis NDT 7 studies h Free 2002 noted much of the NDT research did not control for evidentiary strength use of single stage analyses and had methodological issues Pretrial Detention a 60 percent of federal district court defendants were detained before trial and 62 percent of suspects in state and local cases were held in jail before trial Harrison and Beck 2006 b No uniform trend Local court characteristic play a vital role c Offenders who are detained during pretrial proceedings are These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute More likely to be convicted Less likely to have their charges reduced More likely to have longer sentences than those who were released before trial Increases the likelihood that a defendant will plead guilty III Charging and Plea Bargaining a Prosecutors charging decisions Prosecutorial Judgment 1 Influenced by self perpetuating biases Broad discretion Enormous power 33 to 50 of felony cases are dismissed by prosecutors Prior to any determination of guilt or innocence IV San Jose Mercury News Study 1991 700 000 cases a State level Whites were more successful at having charges dropped cases dismissed avoiding harsher punishment avoiding extra charges and having their records expunged b Federal level 1 3 of whites had charges either dismissed or reduced to misdemeanors of blacks and Hispanics received such changes
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