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                            Library & Multimedia
 Measuring and Explaining Charge Bargaining
NCJ Number
              218310
Journal

*Journal of  Quantitative Criminology* Volume: 23 Issue: 2 Dated: June 2007 Pages: 105-125
Author(s)
          Anne Morrison Piehl;
                        Shawn D. Bushway
Date Published

June 2007
Length
              21 pages
Annotation
              This study compared the relative amount of charge bargaining (plea bargaining) in the counties of two States (Washington State and Maryland) and its impact on sentencing under two different sentencing guideline systems (voluntary guidelines and presumptive guidelines).
Abstract
              The study found that charge bargaining played an important role in determining sentencing outcomes. The findings also showed that measuring the difference in months of prison time determined by the charge bargain might provide a very different estimate of the impact of the prosecutorial discretion than is found by the rate of bargaining. Although the rate of charge bargaining was higher in the voluntary guidelines State (Maryland), its impact on sentences was greater in the presumptive guidelines State (Washington), as predicted. The finding of differential charge bargaining in these two jurisdictions suggests caution when comparing the results of studies of sentencing disparity across types of jurisdictions, since the conviction information in more structured systems may represent systematic movement from the arraignment charge. The charge-bargaining comparison across the two jurisdictions used data from the publicly available State Court Processing Statistics. Data were from all felony cases brought in May 1998 in the 75 largest U.S. counties. Data pertain to case processing from filing to disposition or for processing stages in 1 year, whichever occurs first. 5 tables and 49 references
      
  
          Additional Details
Grant Number(s)
        2002-IJ-CX-0023


  
  
        
  Agencies
        NIJ-Sponsored


  
  
        
  Publication Type
        Report (Study/Research)


  
  
        
  Award
        Understanding Sentencing: The Interactions of Laws, Defendent Cahracteristics, Prosecutorial Behavior and Judicial
    
  
  
Date Published: June 1, 2007
    
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