Leveraging a New FJSP Research Platform to Examine the Effects of Prosecutorial Actions

• In Event: Application of the Current Federal Justice Statistics Program (FJSP) to Guide Current Criminal Justice Policy

Abstract

Because US Attorneys have the discretion whether to charge a suspect with crimes and which charges to bring, prosecutors wield considerable power in the federal criminal justice system. Prior efforts to study prosecutorial discretion have used adjacent stages in the system to examine sentencing outcomes with respect to judges, prosecutors, and personal characteristics, using data collected by the Federal Justice Statistics Program (FJSP). BJS has been developing a new data platform to describe individual offender experiences throughout the federal system, from investigation through corrections. We intend to use this new platform to examine prosecutor behavior on outcomes further in the system: community supervision, federal arrest, and returns to federal prison. To assess the power wielded by Attorneys, we plan on leveraging sentencing data in new ways to improve the identification of differences in filing and termination charges. We will also demonstrate the use of this platform to evaluate smart on crime initiatives taken by district US Attorneys’ Offices and the Department of Justice.

Authors

• Ryan Kling, Abt Associates Inc.

• Omri Drucker, Abt Associates Inc.