NCJ Number
80749
Date Published
1981
Length
21 pages
Annotation
This report assesses the accomplishments of Florida's Career Criminal Prosecution Program between October 1979 and December 1980, with attention to the numbers of cases prosecuted, reductions in dismissals and case processing times, limits on plea bargaining, and conviction rates.
Abstract
The statewide Career Criminal Prosecution Program achieved 60 percent of its objective of prosecuting approximately 825 recidivistic felony cases. This can be attributed to the elimination of LEAA funding which prompted local units to reduce their acceptance of new cases toward the end of the grant period. All six local units established in the program routinely identified target defendants through daily screening and developed procedures for notifying local law enforcement officials of their evaluation of a target case. Most circuits arranged for the prosecutor present at first appearance to have sufficient information to argue for maximum bond, but serious jail overcrowding influenced some judges to grant bond. However, most career criminal defendants prosecuted were in jail at the time of verdict. The program did not accomplish its goal of reducing dismissals to less than 10 percent, but did decrease case processing times by about 13 percent when compared with control group cases. Overall, processing of career criminal cases required an average of 127 days in contrast to 146 days for control group cases. Florida faces special problems with tourists who become victims or witnesses and then return to their home State, but units with special personnel for victim/witness contacts gained better cooperation. The program's refusal to plea bargain led to substantial success in obtaining pleas to the top charge, although most units also adopted the policy of not prosecuting under the habitual offender statute when a defendant agreed to plead to the top charge. For all cases, including those dismissed and nolle processed, the career criminal project achieved an 84-percent conviction rate as compared to the control group's 68 percent. Other areas covered in the report include contacts with parole and probation departments, tracking appellate proceedings, relations between the State Attorney's office and law enforcement personnel, press relationships, recordkeeping systems, and the operations of a statewide coordinating office. Statistical tables are appended.