The Contours of Justice Communities and Their Courts

, by Eisenstein, James; Flemming, Roy B.; Mardulli, Peter F.

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ISBN: 9780761814061 | 076181406X
Cover: Paperback
Copyright: 6/24/1999

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This text describes the workings of criminal courts in nine middle-sized counties. The authors examine the technology used to schedule and assign work, local legal culture, and customary ways of disposing of cases.

PART ONE Metaphors for Understanding Courts: Law vs. Community

(54)

Approaches to Crime and Criminal Courts

(19)

Introduction

(2)

The Traditional ``Legal'' Metaphor

(2)

Criminal Courts in the United States

(5)

Similarities and Differences in American Criminal Courts

(3)

The Approach Guiding the Empirical Research

(1)

Design of the Research: What Was Studied, and How?

(6)

Summary

(1)

The Criminal Court Community

(33)

Origins of the Metaphor: Courts as Communities

(1)

The Notion of Community

(3)

County Legal Culture and Court Communities

(7)

Definition of County Legal Culture

(1)

Self-Awareness as an Attribute of County Legal Culture

(1)

Common Beliefs About Interpersonal Relations

(1)

Shared Attitudes About How Cases Are Processed

(2)

Special Language as an Aspect of Culture

(1)

Culture and a Sense of Tradition

(1)

Inhabitants of Court Communities

(2)

Interdependencies in Court Communities

(1)

Structure of Status and Power

(4)

Emotional Undercurrents and Grapevines

(4)

Sponsoring Organizations in Court Communities

(1)

Technology in Court Communities

(3)

Spatial Relations and Geography

(1)

Links to Other Communities

(3)

Proximate Causes of Case Outcomes

(1)

Summary

(2)

PART TWO Criminal Court Communities in Nine Middle-Sized Courts

(202)

Introduction to Erie County: People, Crime, and Defendants

(17)

A Sketch of Erie County

(3)

Crime in Erie County

(6)

Arrests in Erie County

(1)

From Arrest to Court: Screening Defendants

(3)

Erie's Cases and Defendants

(2)

Summary

(2)

The Criminal Court Community In Erie

(31)

Size, Composition, and Communication in the Court Community

(4)

Geography of Erie's Criminal Court Community

(1)

The Judges

(6)

Prosecutor's Office

(6)

Public Defender's Office

(5)

Erie's Private Defense Bar

(1)

Structure of Attitudes

(1)

Social and Working Relationships in Erie's Court Community

(4)

Age and Generations in Erie's Court Community

101

(1)

Structure of Influence

102

(1)

Summary

103

(2)

Technology, Case Flow, and Defendant Outcomes in Erie

105

(33)

The Erie Court Community's Technology

105

(3)

Influence of Case-Scheduling Techniques

108

(6)

Rhythm of Work

108

(2)

Unpredictability

110

(1)

Theory and Practice of Judge-Shopping

111

(3)

How Erie's Court Community Disposed of Cases

114

(4)

Initial Charges and Bail Outcomes

115

(3)

How and When Defendants' Cases Ended

118

(1)

The Guilty-Plea Process

118

(7)

Severity of Erie's Sentences

125

(6)

Going Rates, Trial Penalties, and Guilty Pleas

131

(1)

Effects of State-Level Factors

132

(4)

Summary

136

(2)

Kalamazoo's Criminal Court

138

(38)

Introduction

138

(1)

State-Level Factors

138

(3)

The Court's Environment and Work

141

(4)

General Characteristics

141

(1)

Crime in Kalamazoo

142

(1)

Cases and Defendants

143

(2)

Composition of the Court Community

145

(14)

The Defense Bar

145

(3)

Kalamazoo's Judges

148

(2)

Prosecutor's Office

150

(7)

Geography, Influence, and Relationships in the Court Community

157

(2)

The Court Community's Technology

159

(2)

Disposition of Cases in Kalamazoo

161

(12)

Kalamazoo's Guilty-Plea System

164

(4)

Severity of Sentences

168

(5)

Summary

173

(3)

Criminal Courts and Communities in Du Page County

176

(26)

Introduction

176

(2)

Crime and Defendants in Du Page

178

(5)

The Court Community in Du Page

183

(9)

Prosecutor's Office

183

(3)

The Defense Bar

186

(2)

Du Page's Judges

188

(2)

Relationships in the Court Community

190

(2)

Case Outcomes

192

(6)

Illinois Effects

198

(1)

Summary

199

(3)

Court Communities in Nine Counties

202

(26)

County Legal Culture

202

(2)

Inhabitants of Court Communities

204

(6)

Size and Familiarity

204

(1)

Demographics and Social Interaction

205

(3)

Attitudes of Community Members

208

(2)

Structure of Status and Power

210

(2)

Emotional Undercurrents and Grapevines

212

(1)

Sponsoring Organizations

213

(4)

The Judges

214

(1)

Prosecutor Offices and Bureaucratic Controls

214

(2)

Judicial Policies, the Defense Bar, and Public Defenders' Practices

216

(1)

Technologies of Criminal Court Communities

217

(6)

Spatial Relations and Geography

223

(1)

Links to Other Communities

223

(4)

Characteristics Associated with States

224

(2)

County Legal Cultures

226

(1)

Summary

227

(1)

Case Outcomes in Nine Middle-Sized Courts

228

(29)

Introduction

228

(1)

Cases and Defendants in the Nine Counties

229

(2)

Contours of Case Outcomes

231

(1)

Differences in Guilty-Plea Processes

232

(5)

Reductions in Charges and Count Drops

234

(3)

Sentence Agreements and Plea Routing

237

(1)

Distribution of Sentences

237

(6)

The Pace of Justice

243

(1)

Concessions and Consensus in the Guilty-Plea System

243

(5)

Explanations of the Guilty-Plea Process and Their Limits

248

(7)

Going Rates and Guilty Pleas

250

(3)

Why Guilty-Plea Systems Differ

253

(1)

Pace of Justice and Contextual Influences

254

(1)

Summary

255

(2)

PART THREE Contours of Justice

257

(50)

Contours of Justice: Criminal Courts in the United States

259

(32)

Introduction

259

(1)

Concept of Size in Social and Political Life

260

(2)

Criminal Courts in Small Jurisdictions

262

(11)

Brief Sketch of a Very Small Criminal Court

263

(2)

Characteristics Directly Attributable to Smallness

265

(1)

Characteristics Flowing from Similarities in Small Jurisdictions

265

(6)

Case Outcomes and the Guilty-Plea Process

271

(2)

Criminal Courts in Large Jurisdictions

273

(10)

Characteristics Directly Attributable to Largeness

274

(4)

Characteristics Flowing from Similarities in Large Jurisdictions

278

(2)

Contours of Justice in Large Jurisdictions

280

(3)

Size and Court Communities: A Summary

283

(1)

Other Features of Criminal Court Communities

284

(6)

Correlates of Conflict

284

(3)

Structural Impediments to Vigorous Defense of Poor Defendants

287

(3)

Conclusion

290

(1)

Reform and the Contours of Justice

291

(16)

Introduction

291

(3)

Lessons for Reform

294

(10)

Do Not Expect Too Much

294

(1)

The More Radical a Proposed Change the Less Likely Is Its Adoption

294

(1)

More Modest Changes from Above Face Obstacles to Implementation

295

(3)

Reforms from Above Have Widely Varying Results from Jurisdiction to Jurisdiction

298

(1)

Many Means of Reforming from Above Lie Unused

299

(1)

Not All Change Is ``Reform''

300

(2)

Reforms from Within Court Communities Face Significant Obstacles

302

(2)

Concluding Thoughts

304

(3)

Appendix

307

(4)

Index

311

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The Contours of Justice Communities and Their Courts

Summary

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials