(Progressively) prosecuting crime: Race and case prioritization

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

Abstract

The progressive prosecution movement promises to reduce mass incarceration and eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in the criminal legal system, but critics argue that progressive prosecutors are soft on crime and increase local crime rates. A closer look at the policies of many progressive prosecutors reveals that their approach to prosecution is not blanket leniency, but a prioritization of particular types of offenses over others. Several studies have examined the impact of progressive prosecutors on general criminal case outcomes, but they overlook the nuances in prosecutors’ approaches to different types of offenses. In this paper, we use case processing data from a local prosecutor’s office to investigate whether the impact of a progressive prosecutor on declinations and felony downgrades differs by offense type and whether progressive prosecutors achieve racial parity in case outcomes across offense types. We found that felony downgrades, although still uncommon, were more likely under the leadership of a progressive prosecutor. The findings have important policy implications for prosecutorial decision-making and the progressive prosecution movement.

Authors

• Li Huang, Seattle University

• Rachel Bowman, Indiana University Bloomington