The Necessity of Performance Measures for Prosecutors

2021 ◽  
pp. 226-258
Author(s):  
Lauren-Brooke Eisen ◽  
Miriam Aroni Krinsky
Keyword(s):  
Performance Measures ◽  
Performance Metrics ◽  
Mass Incarceration ◽  
The United States ◽  
New Wave ◽  
Criminal Cases ◽  
Critical Data ◽  
District Attorneys ◽  
The Right ◽  
Individual Line

Local prosecutors are responsible for 95 percent of criminal cases in the United States—their charging decisions holding enormous influence over the number of people incarcerated and the length of sentences served. Performance metrics are a tool that can align the vision of elected prosecutors with the tangible actions of their offices’ line attorneys. The right metrics can provide clarity to individual line attorneys around the mission of the office and the goals of their job. Historically, however, prosecutor offices have relied on evaluation metrics that incentivize individual attorneys to prioritize more punitive responses and volume-driven activity—such as tracking the number of cases processed, indictments, guilty pleas, convictions, and sentence lengths. Under these past approaches, funding, budgeting, and promotional decisions are frequently linked to regressive measures that fail to account for just results. As more Americans have embraced the need to end mass incarceration, a new wave of reform-minded district attorneys have won elections. To ensure they are accountable to the voters who elected them into office and achieve the changes they championed, they must align measures of success with new priorities for their offices. New performance metrics predicated on the goals of reducing incarceration and enhancing fairness can shrink prison and jail populations, while improving public trust and promoting healthier and safer communities. The authors propose a new set of metrics for elected prosecutors to consider in designing performance evaluations, both for their offices and for individual attorneys. The authors also suggest that for these new performance measures to effectively drive decarceration practices, they must be coupled with careful, thoughtful implementation and critical data-management infrastructure.

Miscarriage of Justice and the Right to Representation

1997 ◽  
Vol 31 (1-3) ◽  
pp. 612-644
Author(s):  
Kenneth Mann
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Procedure ◽  
The United States ◽  
Legal Counsel ◽  
Criminal Cases ◽  
Criminal Trials ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Modern System ◽  
The Right ◽  
Public Entity ◽  
Miscarriage Of Justice

In modern criminal procedure it is generally held that reliability of results and basic fairness in criminal trials require that a defendant have legal counsel. Prevention of miscarriage of justice is tied closely, in the minds of policy makers and judges, with vigorous representation by competent counsel. As against these presuppositions how should one understand a modern system of criminal procedure, such as that in Israel, that does not have a broad right of representation for suspects or defendants in criminal cases?It is by now axiomatic in England and the United States that nearly all defendants in criminal cases have a right to representation. This right encompasses not just the opportunity to bring one's privately retained counsel to court, but also an irrebuttable claim by indigents to have the counsel's bill paid by the state or other public entity. The right to counsel is a broad right, entailing a principle of equality in which representation by counsel is independent of the defendant's ability to pay. In Israel, in contrast, the right to representation in criminal cases is significantly narrower.

Victims and Offenders

2019 ◽  
pp. 123-150
Author(s):  
George P. Fletcher
Keyword(s):  
International Criminal Court ◽  
The United States ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
Private Life ◽  
European Convention ◽  
Criminal Cases ◽  
International Legal Order ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Right

This chapter assesses the role of victims and offenders in criminal cases. The victim is invisible in the definition of crime but omnipresent in the prosecution and sentencing of offenders. In the international legal order, in particular, the victim is front and center, both in the International Criminal Court (ICC) and in lawsuits under the Alien Torts Claim Act. Crime is typically defined by the actions of the offender, and the victim is an incidental consequence. There are many victimless crimes, such as those in the sexual and reproductive arena, which in the United States at least are no longer subject to prosecution on constitutional grounds. The argument for decriminalization is the privacy of the offender, but privacy of the victim can, paradoxically, become an argument for criminalization under the right to a private life codified in the European Convention on Human Rights. The chapter also looks at the duality of victimhood.

Staffing Plan Survey of State Transportation Agencies

2000 ◽  
Vol 1729 (1) ◽  
pp. 12-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacqueline N. Hood ◽  
Tony Alarid ◽  
David Albright
Keyword(s):  
Performance Measures ◽  
Succession Planning ◽  
The United States ◽  
General Information ◽  
Work Location ◽  
Employee Recruitment ◽  
The Right ◽  
Survey Responses ◽  
Transportation Agencies ◽  
Recruitment Performance

A survey of state transportation agencies in the United States was conducted to identify staffing plan practices and concerns. A staffing plan involves recruiting, training, and retaining employees with skills to do the work needed for the organization to attain its objectives efficiently. Staffing plan areas studied in the survey included general information about the state transportation agency, such as the strategic plan and staffing plans, recruitment, right-sized workforce (determining the right number of employees to perform a job), flexible workforce (the ability to change the work performed and the work location), retention (keeping valuable employees), and succession planning (ensuring a qualified pool of employees for key positions). All 50 states participated in the survey. Responses indicated that most state transportation agencies have at least one primary area in human resource management that they consider innovative and that there is a broad-based interest among the states to cooperate in exploring new and better methods. The highest staffing plan priorities among state transportation agencies are employee recruitment, performance measures, and employee retention. State staffing plan priorities, current innovation in these areas, and strong interest in cooperating with other states provide a basis for broad-based improvement in staffing plans among the states and across the nation.

Mass Incarceration in the United States: From Punishment to Public Health

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ernest Drucker
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Social Stigma ◽  
Mass Incarceration ◽  
The United States ◽  
Community Supervision ◽  
Recidivism Rate ◽  
Mass Imprisonment ◽  
The World ◽  
The Right

Mass imprisonment in the United States is an epidemic that has spread across five generations affecting millions of individuals, their families, and hundreds of communities. The United States imprisons more people than any other nation in the world—with over 2 million behind bars and another 5 to 7 million under community supervision on parole and probation. With 5% of the world’s population, the United States has 25% of all the world’s prisoners. This U.S. system imposes many punitive policies, holding more of its citizens in isolation and solitary confinement than all the other prisons of the world combined and imposing the highest rates of life sentences of any nation. This public health analysis of mass incarceration in the United States (first proposed in Ernest Drucker’s 2011 book, A Plague of Prisons: The Epidemiology of Mass Incarceration in America) must therefore also address the high rates of prisoner reentry that accompany it—with over 600,000 U.S. prisoners reentering society each year—with the highest recidivism rate of any nation. This population is disproportionally poor and members of America’s large minority populations (African Americans and Latinos). The public health model provides a new tool for ending the American epidemic of mass imprisonment and, of equal importance, healing those who have survived its blows. This stage of the American story of mass incarceration is covered in Drucker’s 2018 book, Decarcerating America: From Mass Punishment to Public Health. But releasing people from prisons is not enough—the taint of punishment has a long-lasting and debilitating effect on the millions who return from prison to their home communities—facing social stigma and the many restrictions placed upon them as part of the conditions of parole—including limits of their access to public education, healthcare, and housing—as well as convicted felons’ loss of the right to vote. The United States badly needs a paradigm shift that replaces these impediments to successful reentry after prison, creating instead a positive place and normal life for this population in the outside world.

scholarly journals Introduction: Contemporary Counter-Movements in the Age of Brexit and Trump

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 496-506 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silke Roth
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
New Wave ◽  
The European Union ◽  
60Th Anniversary ◽  
Far Right ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Right ◽  
Populist Movements

Brexit and the election of President Trump in the United States are the result of the rise of far-right populist movements which can be observed in Europe, North America, and other regions of the world. Whereas populism itself is one response to neoliberalism, globalization, and austerity measures, the election of Trump, in particular, has caused a new wave of protest. To a far lesser extent, on the 60th anniversary of the founding of the European Union in March 2017, people in the UK and many European countries participated in a March for Europe. These demonstrations represent counter-movements to the growing presence of right-wing, anti-immigrant, racist, nationalist, sexist, homophobic, anti-semitic and anti-Muslim movements throughout Europe and the United States. This rapid response issue surveys right-wing populist and left-liberal counter-movements which represent different responses to neoliberalism, globalization, austerity, and to each other. Social movements reflect and contribute to social change and need to be understood from an intersectional perspective. Networked media play an important role for both populist movements from the right and progressive counter-movements.

scholarly journals A factorial analysis of international construction joint venture performance measures: A case of Ghana

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel Twum-Ampofo ◽  
Gabriel Nani ◽  
Mershack Opoku Tetteh ◽  
Benjamin Kwaku Ababio
Keyword(s):  
Performance Measures ◽  
Joint Venture ◽  
Performance Metrics ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Snowball Sampling ◽  
Financial Measures ◽  
Construction Joint ◽  
International Construction ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Right

Little study on performance measurement has been conducted within sub-Saharan Africa, where international construction joint ventures (ICJV) have become an emerging trend in construction. Consequently, the reliability and comparability of existing performance measures in such a new region are unknown. This paper adds to the existing knowledge by identifying the relevant joint venture (JV) performance measures within the Ghanaian construction industry. Using a self-administered data obtained through a questionnaire survey by purposive and snowball sampling, respondents rated their perceptions of 20 performance measures identified from the literature. Factor analysis established the variables measuring aspects of the same underlying dimensions. A total of four key performance measures were identified and explained in terms of a cooperative relationship, financial measures, strategic and learning measures. The findings would enlighten JV stakeholders of the reasons underlying the choice of performance metrics, while in a broader picture assist in choosing the right measures to evaluate the extent to which the objectives of the newly formed JV have been achieved.

Commentary: Judicial Remedies for Treaty Violations in Criminal Cases: Consular Rights of Foreign Nationals in United States Death Penalty Cases

1999 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 851-888
Author(s):  
Douglass Cassel
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Death Penalty ◽  
The United States ◽  
Criminal Cases ◽  
Foreign Nationals ◽  
International Courts ◽  
National Courts ◽  
The Right ◽  
Judicial Remedies

Litigation over the right of detained foreign nationals to be notified of their right to seek consular assistance in death penalty cases is important to the more than 80 foreign nationals currently on death row in the United States. It also raises more general questions about the role of international law and of international courts in sensitive criminal cases before national courts. International courts and litigants may enhance the likelihood of compliance in such cases by insisting on fair and deliberate procedures, on transparent and thoroughly articulated reasoning, and on prudent shaping of remedies.

Lending to the Borrower from Hell

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mauricio Drelichman ◽  
Hans-Joachim Voth
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Sovereign Debt ◽  
Risk Sharing ◽  
The United States ◽  
Philip Ii ◽  
Loan Contracts ◽  
The Right ◽  
Intelligent Model ◽  
New Evidence

Why do lenders time and again loan money to sovereign borrowers who promptly go bankrupt? When can this type of lending work? As the United States and many European nations struggle with mountains of debt, historical precedents can offer valuable insights. This book looks at one famous case—the debts and defaults of Philip II of Spain. Ruling over one of the largest and most powerful empires in history, King Philip defaulted four times. Yet he never lost access to capital markets and could borrow again within a year or two of each default. Exploring the shrewd reasoning of the lenders who continued to offer money, the book analyzes the lessons from this historical example. Using detailed new evidence collected from sixteenth-century archives, the book examines the incentives and returns of lenders. It provides powerful evidence that in the right situations, lenders not only survive despite defaults—they thrive. It also demonstrates that debt markets cope well, despite massive fluctuations in expenditure and revenue, when lending functions like insurance. The book unearths unique sixteenth-century loan contracts that offered highly effective risk sharing between the king and his lenders, with payment obligations reduced in bad times. A fascinating story of finance and empire, this book offers an intelligent model for keeping economies safe in times of sovereign debt crises and defaults.

Bantuan Hukum Cuma-Cuma Bagi Tersangka yang Tidak Mampu Pada Tingkat Penyidikan

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rio Saputra ◽  
Mokhammad Najih
Keyword(s):  
Secondary Data ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Legal Aid ◽  
Criminal Cases ◽  
Legal Research ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Legal Structure ◽  
Procedure Code ◽  
Study Techniques ◽  
The Right

<p><em>Suspects have the right to obtain legal assistance, especially for suspects who are classified as economically disadvantaged in accordance with Article 56 of the Criminal Procedure Code (KUHAP). The facts show that there are many irregularities in the implementation of legal aid, therefore it is necessary to know about the implementation of free legal aid for suspects who are incapacitated at the level of investigation and the factors that become obstacles in the implementation of legal aid. This legal research is an empirical legal research and this research is descriptive in nature. The data used are primary data and secondary data. The techniques used to collect data were document study techniques and interview techniques. Inhibiting factors affecting the implementation of free legal aid for suspects who are unable at the level of investigation can be classified and differentiated into 3 factors, namely, legal substance, legal structure, and legal culture).</em></p><p><strong><em>Keywords: </em></strong><em>Legal Aid, Criminal Cases</em></p>

The Right to Bodily Integrity

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison Brysk
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Sexual Violence ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
The United States ◽  
Bodily Integrity ◽  
Global Pattern ◽  
Popular Resistance ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Right

In Chapter 7, we profile the global pattern of sexual violence. We will consider conflict rape and transitional justice response in Peru and Colombia, along with the plight of women displaced by conflict from Syria and Central America, and limited international policy response. State-sponsored sexual violence and popular resistance to reclaim public space will be chronicled in Egypt as well as Mexico. We will track intensifying public sexual assault amid social crisis in Turkey, South Africa, and India, which has been met by a wide range of public protest, legal reform, and policy change. For a contrasting experience of the privatization of sexual assault in developed democracies, we will trace campus, workplace, and military rape in the United States.

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