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Police-Prosecutor Coordination - The Key to Effective Prosecution

NCJ Number
101146
Date Published
1986
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This booklet summarizes the National Institute of Justice's research on ways to improve police-prosecutor cooperation in order to improve the conviction rate.
Abstract
Research has focused on the characteristics of a 'good' arrest from the perspectives of the police and prosecutors and also on the reasons why a small percentage of officers make half the arrests that result in convictions. Other research addresses the best way to ensure the prosecutor receives needed information after an arrest. How to foster police-prosecutor cooperation on case preparation and the procedures and policies that encourage efficient and just case outcomes have also been researched. Research has considered the type of feedback the police should receive from prosecutors when a case is rejected and has examined how to measure the performance of police and prosecutors. 6 annotated selected readings.