Improving criminal justice through better decision making: Lessons from the medical system

Against a backdrop of unprecedented growth in the criminal justice system stand calls for increased government accountability, yet substantial gaps between ideal and actual practice remain. Many observers have pointed to the problem and some of its causes and solutions, including the need for performance monitoring and evidence-based practices. Less attention has been paid to how decision-making errors influence effective criminal justice practice. This article draws on examples from medicine, where decision making has been examined in more depth, and applies them to criminal justice. Its goals are to identify the types of decision-making errors that can undermine effective practice and policy in the criminal justice system, illustrate how systemic factors influence everyday decision making, and draw attention to the benefits of decision making-focused monitoring and assessment. The article concludes by discussing the implications for performance monitoring and improving the criminal justice system.     

Miscarriages of Justice and the Government of the Criminal Justice System: An Alternative Perspective on the Production and Deployment of Counter-Discourse

This article confronts a perennial question raised by critical criminologists, namely, what part do critical counter-discourses play in the exercise of dominant forms of power in the sphere of criminal justice? In specific terms, it analyses some of the key sources of critical socio-legal counter-discourse that were produced and deployed in response to the most recent governmental review of the criminal justice system on the problem of miscarriages of justice in England and Wales. In so doing, it draws from Foucault’s theses on power, resistance and governmentality and suggests an alternative reading of the relations of power and the role and rationality of governmental intervention in the legislative framework of the criminal justice system. In light of this, it is argued that the reform of the criminal justice system should not only or merely be viewed as a ‘damage limitation exercise’ by a repressive state attempting to ‘betray’ the public to retain or reproduce its power. On the contrary, reform of the criminal justice system might, also, fruitfully be seen as part of a process that is initiated when the governmental conditions are right; a process which can, also, present opportunities to achieve progressive reforms.     

Decision Making in a Hybrid Organization: A Case Study of a Southwestern Drug Court Treatment Program

This article presents a case study of decision making in a drug court located the southwestern United States. This study seeks to fill a gap in research on decision making by attending to the ways that drug court officials navigate the demands of a court that is dedicated to both therapy and criminal justice. This analysis differs from previous research by viewing the drug court as a “hybrid organization” and asking how the staff members interact in the decision‐making process. Additionally, this research provides an opportunity to investigate the concerns over collaborative decision making raised by critics. The data from this case study reveal that as a hybrid organization, the drug court staff often divides along institutional lines by allowing the counseling staff to manage treatment and the judge to manage punishment. When tensions arise, they are resolved by the structure of the court, which is hierarchical rather than collaborative.     

Criminal Justice Education and Training in North Carolina: History and Development from 1920 to 1980

This paper examines and analyzes primary and secondary data relative to the history and development of criminal justice education and training in North Carolina for six decades. Emphasis is focused on the early attempts to provide education and training for criminal justice personnel from 1920 to 1940, the expansion and improvement in criminal justice education and training from 1940 to 1960, and the establishment of criminal justice education and training programs in two-year community colleges and technical institutes and four-year senior public and private postsecondary education institutions from 1960 to 1980. In addition to discussing the similarities and differences in the methods utilized by institutions to establish criminal justice education and training programs, this paper discusses the curricula, course offerings, and characteristics of the faculties, as well as internal and external conditions, forces, and factors that influenced the history and development of education and training programs for criminal justice personnel. As a result of the impact of these and various influences from within police departments and individual institutions, educational and governmental state agencies, and from demands and needs of criminal justice personnel and society for better protection and safety, criminal justice education and training programs were in force at 15 two-year community colleges, 30 two-year technical institutes, 10 four-year senior, public institutions, and eight four-year, senior, private institutions in North Carolina in 1978.     

Sustainable economic development: A criminal justice challenge for the 21st century

The environmental challenges of the 21^st century require co-operation between criminal justice experts and economists. Three different economics perspectives are relevant for the discipline of criminal justice in general and for adressing environmental problems in particular: neo-classical econoics, political economics and the economics of sustainable development. Criminal justice pays a role in the effort to attain sustainable development because the limitations of market based decision making necessitate a role for law and regulation in addressing environmental degradation. Sustainable development itself is relevant to the general discussion of crime. Issues of sustainable development are already discussed in criminal justice literature. While criminal law has limitations as a tool against environmental crime, it will necessarily suplement the tools of the market and civil regulation in coping with environmental problems. The inherently multidisciplinary undertaking of sustainable development will be most effectively met if experts in both economics and criminal justice understand more of one another's fields. Suggestions for including the three perspectives of economics in the criminal justice curriculum are provided.     

Texas Criminal Defense Attorneys’ Perceptions of Crime Victim Involvement in Criminal Prosecutions

The purpose of this study was to test the utility of the Victim Satisfaction Model of the criminal justice system by quantitatively assessing criminal defense attorneys’ perceptions of victims’ involvement in the charging and plea bargaining stages of the criminal process. A cross-section research design was used in this study. Self-administered questionnaires were mailed to defense attorneys who regularly practice criminal law in Texas. The results of this study support the utility of the Victim Satisfaction Model of the criminal justice system and further our understanding of victim involvement in the decision making and have important implications for the American criminal justice system.     

Prosecutorial Discretion: An Examination of Substantial Assistance Departures in Federal Crack‐Cocaine and Powder‐Cocaine Cases

Recently there has been a call for research that explores decision‐making at stages prior to sentencing in the criminal justice process. Particularly research is needed under a determinate sentencing system where judicial dispositions are usually restricted by guidelines, which increases the importance of earlier decision‐making stages. As an answer to this call, and in an attempt to build on currents studies on the effects of departures as an intervening mechanism, and a source of unwarranted disparity, this study explores federal sentencing data on offenders convicted of crack‐cocaine and powder‐cocaine offenses. Although decision‐making of all criminal justice actors generally, and prosecutors specifically, has been the subject of much research, studies have yet to resolve the nature and outcome of their “autonomous” discretion. This autonomy becomes especially salient regarding prosecutorial decisions for substantial assistance departures. In deciding who receives a substantial assistance departure, the prosecutor has carte blanche power.     

Criminal Decision Making: The Development of Adolescent Judgment,Criminal Responsibility,and Culpability

Theories of judgment in decision making hypothesize that throughout adolescence, judgment is impaired because the development of several psychosocial factors that are presumed to influence decision making lags behind the development of the cognitive capacities that are required to make mature decisions. This study uses an innovative video technique to examine the role of several psychosocial factors—temporal perspective, peer influence, and risk perception—in adolescent criminal decision making. Results based on data collected from 56 adolescents between the ages of 13 and 18 years revealed that detained youth were more likely to think of future-oriented consequences of engaging in the depicted delinquent act and less likely to anticipate pressure from their friends than nondetained youth. Examination of the developmental functions of the psychosocial factors indicates age-based differences on standardized measures of temporal perspective and resistance to peer influence and on measures of the role of risk perception in criminal decision making. Assessments of criminal responsibility and culpability were predicted by age and ethnicity. Implications for punishment in the juvenile justice system are discussed.     

Catch‐22: Exploring Victim Interests in a Specialist Family Violence Jurisdiction

Research and advocacy over the past few decades have combined to draw attention both to the inadequacies of criminal justice intervention in domestic violence as well as the law's positive potential. Radical changes in law, policy, and practice have been implemented in the civil and criminal jurisdictions in most western countries, including Australia. More proactive intervention from criminal justice agencies has not been without its critics. The interests of victims of domestic violence have been portrayed by some as being in conflict with those of the justice system. This article explores this interaction using evaluation surveys and qualitative data from interviews with 360 victims of domestic violence in an urban Australian jurisdiction. Using a smaller subset of respondents, the article provides an exploratory examination of victims’ engagement with criminal prosecution and how they place themselves within the decision‐making process and the objectives of the system. The article concludes that there is significant congruence between victim objectives and interests and those of a public‐interest justice system.     

Criminal Justice Statistics—An Evolution

The origins of the Bureau of Justice Statistics and criminal justice statistics in general go back 150 years, but the U.S. President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice in 1967, along with subsequent panels and commissions, added urgency and specificity to the work to be done to improve our understanding of the operation of the criminal justice system and of crime. Criminal justice statistics have the potential to be used to shape and evaluate specific policies and programs when the statistics are timely, accurate, and relevant to the decisions being made for policy formulation or evaluation. The full development of effective criminal justice statistics on crime and the administration of the justice system can provide for informed decision making and more insightful resource allocation. In this article, I summarize the historical progressions and evolution of criminal justice statistics in light of the changes affecting the justice environment and propose future work.     

刑事诉讼的目的、价值及其关系

刑事诉讼的目的是指国家根据各种刑事诉讼主体的客观需要及其对刑事诉讼价值的认知所预先设计的、希望通过刑事诉讼立法和司法而实现的理想的诉讼结果。刑事诉讼价值是指刑事诉讼程序本身所固有的、不依赖于刑事诉讼主体及其需要而独立存在的、能够通过刑事诉讼活动对国家、社会和所有公民的合理需要和要求的满足具有积极意义的一种特性。刑事诉讼目的与价值的联系在于 :刑事诉讼目的的产生是人们对刑事诉讼的价值进行认知、评价、选择的结果 ,刑事诉讼目的的实现是刑事诉讼价值的体现。两者的区别在于 :刑事诉讼目的具有主观性 ,刑事诉讼价值具有客观性 ;刑事诉讼目的是人们从事刑事诉讼活动的起点和终点 ,刑事诉讼价值是人们价值认知的对象 ;刑事诉讼目的追求的程序公正是人的主观目标 ,刑事诉讼程序本身的公正性是其内在的本质规定。     

THE IMPACT OF BRITISH COUNTERTERRORIST STRATEGIES ON POLITICAL VIOLENCE IN NORTHERN IRELAND: COMPARING DETERRENCE AND BACKLASH MODELS*

Since philosophers Beccaria and Bentham, criminologists have been concerned with predicting how governmental attempts to maintain lawful behavior affect subsequent rates of criminal violence. In this article, we build on prior research to argue that governmental responses to a specific form of criminal violence—terrorism—may produce both a positive deterrence effect (i.e., reducing future incidence of prohibited behavior) and a negative backlash effect (i.e., increasing future incidence of prohibited behavior). Deterrence‐based models have long dominated both criminal justice and counterterrorist policies on responding to violence. The models maintain that an individual's prohibited behavior can be altered by the threat and imposition of punishment. Backlash models are more theoretically scattered but receive mixed support from several sources, which include research on counterterrorism; the criminology literature on labeling, legitimacy, and defiance; and the psychological literature on social power and decision making. In this article, we identify six major British strategies aimed at reducing political violence in Northern Ireland from 1969 to 1992 and then use a Cox proportional hazard model to estimate the impact of these interventions on the risk of new attacks. In general, we find the strongest support for backlash models. The only support for deterrence models was a military surge called Operation Motorman, which was followed by significant declines in the risk of new attacks. The results underscore the importance of considering the possibility that antiterrorist interventions might both increase and decrease subsequent violence.     

Patient inducement, provider priorities, and resource allocation in public mental health systems

Public mental health systems are increasingly facing demands from the criminal justice system and social services agencies to provide services and support in cases in which mental illness contributes to crime, homelessness, or poverty. In this article we analyze how policies from outside public mental health systems affect resource allocation within these systems, using examples from criminal justice. These policies use two types of mechanisms: inducing patients to consume treatment (by offering rewards or imposing penalties) and inducing clinicians to provide treatment (by creating priorities). We propose a classification of these social policies based on whether they affect demand through rewards or penalties or supply through priorities. We then relate the classification to data on patients treated in public systems to evaluate the current prevalence and potential for growth in these outside demands. These inducements impose a set of nonobvious costs on other patients who are not targeted by the policies. Furthermore, they create incentives for both patients and providers to modify their behavior in order to take advantage of rewards, avoid penalties, or better compete for resources with prioritized patients. We consider some policy implications for avoiding unintended consequences of these policies.     

The Shifting Sands of Punishment in China in the Era of “Harmonious Society”

This article about the politics of punishment in China today follows some of the political machinations involved in the development of a new policy called “Balancing Leniency and Severity.” It treats this new policy as an exemplar of how politics works in the Hu Jintao era to change the way crimes are addressed in judicial decision making. This paper underscores the important ways in which political ideology informs criminal justice policy and practice in China. It examines a number of stages of development within the last decade during which Balancing Leniency and Severity has emerged as a foundational criminal justice policy.     

A cultural change to enable improved decision-making in forensic science: A six phased approach

There has been an increased engagement by researchers in understanding the decision-making processes that occur within forensic science. There is a rapidly growing evidence base underpinning our understanding of decision-making and human factors and this body of work is the foundation for achieving truly improved decision-making in forensic science. Such an endeavour is necessary to minimise the misinterpretation of scientific evidence and maximize the effectiveness of crime reconstruction approaches and their application within the criminal justice system. This paper proposes and outlines a novel six phased approach for how a broadening and deepening knowledge of decision-making in forensic science can be articulated and incorporated into the spheres of research, practice, education, and policy making within forensic science specifically, and the criminal justice system more generally. Phases 1 and 2 set out the importance of systematic examination of the decisions which play a role throughout forensic reconstruction and legal processes. Phase 3 focuses on how these decisions can, and should, be studied to understand the underlying mechanisms and contribute to reducing the occurrence of misleading decisions. Phase 4 highlights the ways in which the results and implications of this research should be communicated to the forensic community and wider criminal justice system. Lastly, the way in which the forensic science domain can move forwards in managing the challenges of human decision-making and create and embed a culture of acceptance and transparency in research, practice and education (learning and training) are presented in phases 5 and 6. A consideration of all 6 connected phases offers a pathway for a holistic approach to improving the transparency and reproducibility of decision making within forensic science.     

The Criminal Justice System Creates Incentives for False Convictions

Abstract

The American criminal justice system creates incentives for false conviction. For example, many public crime labs are funded in part per conviction. We show that the number of false convictions per year in the American criminal justice system should be considered “high.” We examine the incentives of police, forensic scientists, prosecutors, and public defenders in the U.S. Police, prosecutors, and forensic scientists often have an incentive to garner convictions with little incentive to convict the right person. These incentives create what economists call a “multitask problem” that seems to be resulting in a needlessly high rate of false convictions. Public defenders lack the resources and incentives needed to provide a vigorous defense for their clients. Corrective measures are discussed, along with a call for more research.     

Community influence on prosecutorial dismissals: A multilevel analysis of case- and county-level factors

Researchers have recently recognized the importance of social context for developing a more complete understanding of the sentencing process where community characteristics help to account for variation in sentencing practices from one legal jurisdiction to the next. Similar developments, however, have been nearly absent in the study of prosecutorial decision making; this is particularly important given the substantial authority afforded prosecutors throughout the criminal justice process. To address this considerable shortcoming, the current study used multilevel modeling to test the effects of several theoretically relevant community-level measures on the prosecutor's decision to dismiss criminal charges. Findings indicated that multiple measures of social context influence prosecutorial decision making, but not always as specified by the examined theoretical frameworks. Implications of the current study are discussed with regard to theory, research, and policy.     

Congress and criminal justice policy making: The impact of interest groups and symbolic politics

This article explores the congressional criminal justice policy-making process in the United States, using efforts toward federal criminal-code revision and capital punishment as case examples. It examines how interest groups and symbolic politics affect criminal justice policy and thereby attempts to enhance understanding of the political realities of criminal justice policy making. Based on the findings reported here, an approach to criminal justice policy making is recommended. This approach builds on the disjointed incremental model found in the political science literature and should facilitate criminal justice policy makers in becoming more effective participants in the legislative process.     

Burnout—Age at release from prison and recidivism

Empirical studies frequently have reported an association between age at release from prison and recidivism. For criminal justice decision-makers who wish to consider this knowledge in making prosecutorial, sentencing, or parole decisions, the magnitude of that association must be established while controlling for the effects of other variables known to be associated with recidivism (e.g., prior criminal record). This research addresses this issue using data from a large sample of federal prison releasees. The results indicate that recidivism rates do decline with increased age, and that the association is not diminished when statistical control is exercised for the effect of prior criminal record.     

Interest groups in the criminal justice process

This article reviews recent research about interest groups in criminal justice policy making and considers the state of knowledge in this area. Portions of major studies by Downs, Berk et al., and Berk and Rossi are discussed. These studies came to varying conclusions about the nature and importance of interest group influence. Three points are suggested by the research described: (1) groups composed of criminal justice professionals (law enforcement personnel, corrections officials, attorneys) are more influential than those with social service or reform concerns, (2) particular social, cultural, and economic conditions in the various states affect interest group structure, power, and goals, (3) criminal justice legislation is generally enacted on a consensual basis without open conflicts in state legislatures and without major public involvement in the process. Some evidence that would tend to modify these conclusions is also presented. Avenues of future research concern are suggested and a framework for further analysis of interest groups in the politics of criminal justice is proposed.