Assessing capriciousness in capital cases

Article Abstract:

The amount of variation in prosecutors' decisions to charge or not charge a particular person with a capital offense may not be a result of chance. The unexplained variance is usually attributed to chance, but it may be that other, unexamined but legitimate factors operate. An analysis of the charges filed in San Francisco indicates that similar cases are treated similarly. The process more closely resembles a conditional lottery based on past criminal behavior and the type of crime, than a pure lottery.

Berk, Richard A., Weiss, Robert, Boger, Jack

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Rejoinder

Article Abstract:

Professor Raymond Paternoster believes that there is one model for the criminal justice system when capital punishment sentences are considered and that death sentences are applied on the basis of many factors. Paternoster agrees with the theory that the process of charging is stochastic which means the justice system is not really based on hard fact. Therefore, there is an element of chance in sentencing based on decisions made by the prosecutor, judge or jury.

Paternoster, Raymond

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Avoidance and misunderstanding: a rejoinder to McDowell et al

Article Abstract:

The 1992 research on Washington D.C.'s gun control law conducted by David McDowell, Brian Wiersema, and Colin Loftin, and their subsequent defense of their conclusions, do not hold up to analysis based on a more appropriate intervention model specification and time series. Their interpretation and use of interrupted time series design data led to incorrect conclusions regarding the effect of the gun control law.

Research, Laws, regulations and rules, Firearms, Washington, D.C., Gun laws, Gun control, McDowall, David, Wiersema, Brian, Loftin, Colin

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