Factors associated with prosecutorial outcomes of gun crime cases

• In Event: Charging, Plea, and Downgrade Decisions: Patterns and Predictors

Abstract

While research on the investigation and successful apprehension of violent offenders has modestly grown in the past decade, research on prosecutorial follow-through with these cases has been outpaced by the proliferation of guns and incidence of gun violence in this country. Much of the extant research on prosecutorial decision making has been theoretical, and research on prosecutorial case attrition has largely been confined to sex offenses and intimate partner violence. Moreover, limited access to and gaps in prosecutorial data has stymied even descriptive research on charging patterns, let alone the estimation of causal models. In this paper, we use prosecutorial data from an Upstate New York District Attorney’s office to examine the disposition patterns for defendants in gun crime cases, analyzing types and predictors of outcomes. For a subset of cases, we supplement these data with data on the police investigations, including victim and witness cooperation and other forms of evidence, to further account for the variation in outcomes.

Authors

• Hannah Cochran, John F. Finn Institute

• Robert E. Worden, John F. Finn Institute & University at Albany