Measuring and Explaining Charge Bargaining in New York State

• In Event: Prosecutorial Discretion, Guilty Pleas and Criminal Punishment

Abstract

Recent literature in sentencing has pointed out that multiple decision points in the criminal justice system affect the sentence imposed. The movement of the charge when a case goes through the system is one important but frequently overlooked variable. Aggregated official statistics have indicated that the prevalence of charge reduction is high in New York State, however, the extent to which charge bargaining affects the sentence is yet to be investigated. The present study uses the Computerized Criminal History (CCH) data of New York State, and builds on the methodology of Piehl and Bushway’s (2007) work, to estimate the magnitude of charge bargaining. It further investigates the factors that explain the variation in charge bargaining, including variation associated with time and location.

Authors

• Shi Yan, Arizona State University

• Shawn Bushway, University at Albany, SUNY