Organizational dimensions of prosecutorial discretion

• In Event: Prosecutorial Discretion in Context: Organizational, Interpersonal, and Situational Dimensions

Abstract

Criminal justice scholars have long emphasized the centrality of prosecutorial discretion within the criminal justice system. This discretion has been criticized as a cause of disparity and heralded as an opportunity for reform. Prosecutors have increasingly used this discretion to pursue collaborative, problem-solving efforts to address criminal justice and public health problems. However, prosecutors do not exercise discretion in isolation; prosecutor’s offices are complex organizations, working with many stakeholders. Our central research question is how chief prosecutors set policy about, manage, and track the exercise of prosecutorial discretion. Drawing on qualitative analyses of in-depth interviews with chief prosecutors across the U.S., we advance three claims about prosecutorial discretion as an organizational phenomenon. First, “prosecutorial discretion,” entails not just a commitment to certain procedural rules about how cases are processed but also substantive commitments about who should be prosecuted and how vigorously. Second, prosecutorial discretion is co-constituted between prosecutors and law enforcement agencies, with case processing decisions having an important communicative function. Finally, prosecutorial discretion is multi-layered, with superordinate and subordinate actors making decisions in response to intraorganizational and interorganizational rules, norms, and incentives. We conclude with the implications of this conceptualization of discretion for successful program implementation and collaborative efforts.

Authors

• Nicholas Goldrosen, Pennsylvania State University / Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing

• Noah Painter-Davis, Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing / Pennsylvania State University