NCJ Number
25894
Date Published
Unknown
Length
6 pages
Annotation
THIS PAPER BRIEFLY DESCRIBES A TECHNIQUE FOR DEVELOPING A STOCHASTIC NETWORK MODEL OF COURT OPERATION BY INTERFACING WITH AN AVAILABLE COMPUTERIZED COURT DATA BASE.
Abstract
THE PRESENT STUDY SOUGHT TO EVALUATE THE APPLICABILITY OF STOCHASTIC NETWORK MODELING AND SIMULATION TO CASE PROCESSING IN THE U.S. DISTRICT COURTS. DATA FOR THIS STUDY WERE ACQUIRED FROM THE COURTRAN FILES, A COMPUTERIZED COURT DATA BASE DEVELOPED BY THE FEDERAL JUDICIAL CENTER IN WASHINGTON, D.C. CASE HISTORIES WERE OBTAINED FOR 3226 CRIMINAL CASES PROCESSED IN THE U.S. DISTRICT COURT IN WASHINGTON, D.C. DURING THE TWENTY-FOUR MONTH PERIOD JULY 1, 1971 THROUGH JUNE 30, 1973. THE MODELING TECHNIQUE PRESENTED HERE STRUCTURES A STOCHASTIC NETWORK FROM AVAILABLE CASE DATA BY PROCESSING EACH CASE AS A PATH THROUGH THE NETWORK, ADDING DEFINITION TO THE BRANCHING PROBABILITIES AT EACH EVENT NODE ENCOUNTERED AND TO THE DISTRIBUTION OF ACTIVITY TIME FOR EACH BRANCH TRAVERSED. THE SAME 'NEXT-EVENT' VIEWPOINT EMPLOYED IN 'GERTS' SIMULATION MODELING IS ADOPTED FOR THIS METHODOLOGY. THE OBJECTIVE WAS TO HAVE THIS METHODOLOGY INTERFACE ON ONE SIDE WITH THE COURTRAN SYSTEM AND ON THE OTHER SIDE WITH THE RAPIDLY DEVELOPING SOFTWARE SYSTEMS FOR STOCHASTIC NETWORK SIMULATION, ESPECIALLY GERTS-III. (AUTHOR ABSTRACT MODIFIED)