The Influence of Defendant Race, Gender, and Age on Charge Reduction

• In Event: Nontradition Look at Traditional Forms of Injustice

Abstract

Research on court processing typically has focused on the sentencing decision, and to a lesser extent pretrial release. Prosecutors have vast discretion afforded to them during case processing, including whether to amend or reduce charges, and in what manner. Few studies have examined this decision-point, most of which were conducted prior to the 1990s. The purpose of this study is to examine whether defendant characteristics (i.e. age, gender, race) influence the decision to reduce charges. A population census of criminal cases in one large Midwestern county will be selected for analysis. Several measures of charge reduction will be examined to determine to what extent extra-legal factors have on different operationalizations of charge reduction (i.e. severity reduction, violent charge reduction, enhancer reduction). Implications for theorizing and researching charge reduction and its impact on sentencing will be discussed.

Authors

• Danielle M. Romain, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee

• Tina L. Freiburger, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee