NCJ Number
95828
Date Published
1984
Length
71 pages
Annotation
A 1979 NIJ evaluation of the Structured Plea Negotiation (SPN) Project at sites in Michigan, Kentucky, and Florida found that the SPN fosters more open and just plea negotiations without harming the existing system.
Abstract
Of the cases randomly selected for SPN, only about 25 percent actually underwent the process. The SPN involves a series of plea negotiation conferences in which the major parties (judge, prosecutor, defense attorney) discuss the case and exchange ideas about appropriate dispositions (usually the sentence, but sometimes diversion). The defendant is allowed to observe the conference, and over 50 percent of the invited victims attend. Defendants whose attorneys were public defenders were present at the conference at a higher rate than those with privately retained attorneys. Victims were more likely to attend when there was personal injury; stolen property of $2,000 or more; or when the crime rated a high score on the Sellin-Wolfgang Crime Seriousness Index. In allowing victims and defendants to observe and thus participate in the plea negotiation process, the experiment favorably affected the perception of victims, defendants, and attorneys and judges. Participation in SPN conferences led to practitioners' greater willingness to involve victims and defendants in the process. The experiment resulted in more positive victim and defendant attitudes about the criminal justice system. Survey results indicate that case disposition methods and sentencing patterns did not change. SPN did result in a slight increase in the trial rate, an additional formal court event, and an increase in unused court dates or continuances. Appended material includes tabular data; conference interaction coding, victim and defendant case data collection methodologies; background characteristics of victims; and survey instruments.