U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

Prosecutorial Discretion: The Effects of Uncertainty

NCJ Number
107087
Journal
Law and Society Review Volume: 21 Issue: 2 Dated: (1987) Pages: 291-313
Author(s)
C A Albonetti
Date Published
1987
Length
23 pages
Annotation
In this paper, the author analyzes the exercise of prosecutorial discretion to 'go forward' with charges.
Abstract
The author examines the relationship between sources of uncertainty in decisionmaking and the initial decision to begin the criminalization process. Organizational theory bearing on uncertainty avoidance provides the perspective guiding the analysis. The author uses a maximum likelihood procedure to estimate the net effects on the probability of prosecution of a set of variables emerging within the backdrop of prosecutorial concern for obtaining a conviction at a jury trial. (Publisher abstract)

Downloads

No download available

Availability