U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Justice Programs

National Institute of Justice

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

OFF ICE OF JUSTICE PROGRAMS

BJA NI J OJJDP BJS OVC

Update Jeremy Travis, Director May 1995

“The prosecution of child molestation cases takes a

tremendous amount of resources from my office. We can

process 40 theft or drug cases in the time 1 child molestation case takes.” So commented one prosecutor in the

National Institute of Justice (NIJ) 1994 National Assessment Program (NAP) survey. A total of 271 prosecutors

(66 percent of the 408 surveyed) responded. Violent

crime, specifically child abuse and domestic violence,

headed the list of workload problems that prosecutors

said they faced.

Workload problems

Violent crime. When asked to rate the extent to which

violent crime—assault, homicide, rape, domestic violence, and child abuse—contributed to workload problems in their offices, about 92 percent of prosecutors

indicated that child abuse was the primary contributor

because these difficult cases required more time to

prosecute. Ranking a close second was domestic violence, with 91 percent of prosecutors citing this violent

crime as a workload problem. In domestic violence

cases, prosecutors said victims often lose interest in

prosecuting the offender, and this resulted in a large

number of dismissals.

Drugs. More than 90 percent of the prosecutors surveyed

cited drug possession and drug sales as causes of

workload problems primarily because of the increase in

number of cases handled. Ninety-three percent said that

to expedite case processing, their jurisdiction had instituted drug treatment programs as an alternative sanction.

However, 82 percent indicated that these programs

needed improvement, with almost half saying major

improvements were necessary.

Gangs. Fifty-eight percent of prosecutors in large jurisdictions (over 250,000 in population) also claimed gangrelated crimes as contributing to their workload problems.

NIJ Survey of Prosecutors

The National Assessment

Program Survey

The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) conducts the

National Assessment Program (NAP) survey approximately every 3 years to identify the needs and

problems of State and local criminal justice agencies.

The survey asks participants about their workload

problems and initiatives to solve them as well as

about special concerns and needs. NIJ uses the

results to plan its research, evaluation, and demonstration programs.

For the 1994 survey, questionnaires were sent to

more than 3,300 criminal justice professionals in 13

types of agencies in 411 counties nationwide. A total

of 211 counties having populations greater than

250,000 were surveyed, along with a random sample

of 200 counties having populations between 50,000

and 250,000. Responses were received between

October 1993 and February 1994 from 2,585 people

(for a response rate of 69 percent).

The complete report of the survey, National Assessment Program: 1994 Survey Results, by Tom

McEwen, can be obtained free from the National

Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS), Box

6000, Rockville, MD 20849–6000. Call 800–851–

3420 or e-mail askncjrs@ncjrs.aspensys.com. Ask for

NCJ 150856. Also available from NCJRS are individual summaries of responses from the other

following groups: police chiefs and sheriffs; probation

and parole agency directors; judges, trial court

administrators, and State court administrators;

wardens and State commissioners of corrections; and

jail administrators.
U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Justice Programs

National Institute of Justice

Washington, D.C. 20531

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This large percentage contrasts with the 33 percent in

small jurisdictions who said they had a gang problem. To

deal with this problem, some offices had gang prosecution units: 38 percent of the prosecutors in large counties,

and 5 percent in smaller ones.

Agency initiatives

Alternative sanctions. Prosecutors gave mixed reviews

to various initiatives developed as alternatives to incarceration. Prosecutors were most dissatisfied with boot

camps; 71 percent said boot camps operated in their

jurisdictions but 70 percent of them said they needed

improvements. About 92 percent of prosecutors reported

having work release centers in their jurisdictions, with 56

percent of them indicating their centers needed improvement. About 83 percent of prosecutors said electronic

monitoring was used as an alternative sanction, but 64

percent noted improvements were needed. However,

virtually all the additional, written comments from prosecutors supported electronic monitoring as a sentencing

option for low-risk offenders.

Special issues

Information systems. Many prosecutors noted that the

lack of information systems or inadequate information

systems created problems in their offices. They were

especially interested in systems to help alleviate attorney

scheduling conflicts. Only 58 percent said they currently

had information systems with this capability, and of those,

65 percent indicated that their systems needed

improvement.

Research and evaluation priorities

Prosecutors cited alternative sanctions, juvenile crime,

and violent crime as the three areas they recommended

for future research and evaluation studies. Specifically,

they wanted to know how effective boot camp programs

were in modifying behavior. They also wanted to know

about the increase in violent crime committed by subjects

18 years old and younger and the relationship between

gangs and violent crime.