Two models of formal social control

In recent years there has been an increasing concern with the link between judicial decisions and the socio-political attributes of the environment in which courts function. Little attention has been paid to the link between attorneys' advice and that same court environment. This study fills the gap.In this paper two models of formal social control are developed—a legalist and a decentralized model. The effect of this environmental factor on attorneys' forum advice is examined.Forum advice data were collected on 143 attorneys in Maryland, Louisiana, and Texas. The data were analyzed using analysis of variance for repeated measures. It was found that a state's adopted model of formal social control does affect attorneys' judge-jury advice. Attorneys in legalist states are more likely to advise the judge trial than are attorneys in decentralized states. This effect was mediated, however, by the race of the client, the racial composition of the community in which the case was to be heard, and the seriousness of the offense. With increasing levels of legalism, attorneys representing blacks based their judge-jury advice on both the seriousness of the offense and the racial composition of the community in which the case is to be heard. With increasing levels of legalism, attorneys of white clients based their forum advice solely on the seriousness of the offense.