A Preliminary Assessment of the Impact of Plea Bargaining Among a Sample of Waiver-Eligible Offenders

Abstract

This study examines the use of plea bargaining among a sample of waiver-eligible juveniles. Using focal concerns as our theoretical foundation, we examine whether concerns about public safety and blameworthiness help to shape plea bargain decision making. Data from a juvenile court in one South Carolina jurisdiction were analyzed using logistic regression (N ¼ 241). This research finds that several factors influence the plea bargain decision including type of offense, number of victims, age, and race. Additionally, the analysis shows that there are several interactive effects between race, first-time offenders, and presence of an attorney. The theoretical and policy implications of these findings are discussed.

A Multilevel Test of the Racial Threat Hypothesis in One State’s Juvenile Court

“…Dummy codes were created for each offense, with “1” indicating that the offense was the final charge at disposition. In addition, several measures related to the juveniles’ background are included—race (Rodriguez, 2007) was dummy coded “1” for Black (vs. White); 9 sex (Leiber et al, 2016) was dummy coded “1” for male; prior offense history (no priors) was dummy coded “0” if there were no adjudications for any prior offense and coded “1” for prior adjudication (Ryan, Abrams, & Huang, 2014); age at referral (Kurlychek & Johnson, 2004) was dummy coded “1” and “0” for each respective age grouping; chronic offending (Baglivio, Jackowski, Greenwald, & Howell, 2014; Kempf-Leonard, Tracy, & Howell, 2001) was dummy coded “1” if juvenile had three or more prior juvenile court referrals; and accomplices (Burrow & Lowery, 2015) were dummy coded “1” if the offender had one or more accomplices. These individual-level measures serve as Level 1 predictors in the hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) models.…”

Plea Bargains Among Serious and Violent Girls: An Intersectional Approach Exploring Race in the Juvenile Court

“…This is also furthered by gaps in the literature involving the plea bargaining process for juveniles. Much plea bargaining research focuses on adults (Kyckelhahn & Cohen, 2008), and no contemporary studies have focused on the plea bargaining process for female juveniles, much less serious and violent female juveniles (although see, Burrow & Lowery, 2015 for serious/violent boys).…”

Juvenile Transfer and the Specific Deterrence Hypothesis

“…Given the considerable growth of the juvenile justice system in recent decades and the fact that only a small percentage of court referrals are transferred, it seems unlikely that such a benefit exists. However, current studies have provided little basis for assessing the impact of transfer on recidivism when transfer is used to plea bargain youth to various juvenile court sanctions, many of which may differ from what otherwise would have happened without transfer as an option (but see Burrow and Lowery, ).…”