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21 Law & Soc'y Rev. 291 (1987-1988)
Prosecutorial Discretion: The Effects of Uncertainty

handle is hein.journals/lwsocrw21 and id is 291 raw text is: PROSECUTORIAL DISCRETION: THE EFFECTS OF UNCERTAINTY CELESTA A. ALBONETTI In this paper the author analyzes the exercise of prosecutorial discretion to go forward with charges. The author examines the re- lationship between sources of uncertainty in decision making and the initial decision to begin the criminalization process. Organizational theory bearing on uncertainty avoidance provides the perspective guiding the analysis. The author uses a maximum likelihood proce- dure to estimate the net effects on the probability of prosecution of a set of variables measuring uncertainty emerging within the backdrop of prosecutorial concern for obtaining a conviction at a jury trial. I. INTRODUCTION In the past decade the behavior of agents of social control has increasingly become the object of empirical study. In large measure this research has focused on four decisions: the deci- sion to arrest, the pretrial release decision, the decision to enter a guilty plea, and the decision on sentence severity. There has been relatively little attention to understanding the variables that influence the initial decision to prosecute. The exercise of this prosecutorial discretion remains invisible. It is this fre- quently overlooked initial decision to paper or go forward1 with charges that is the object of my analysis. I shall propose and test a theory of the exercise of prosecutorial discretion. A. Prosecutorial Discretion The present role of the American prosecutor is the product of a complex combination of three cultural influences: the French, the English, and the Dutch (Grosman, 1969; McDonald, 1979; Kress, 1976; Jacoby, 1980). Prior historical analyses An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 1984 Midwest Socio- logical Association Meeting in Chicago. I am grateful to Jack Ladinsky, John Hagan, and John Marcotte for their helpful comments and suggestions. This research was funded by Grant 821J-CX-0051 from the National Institute of Justice. I wish to thank two anonymous reviewers for their comments. Of course, any errors are the responsibility of the author. 1 In the Superior Court of Washington, D.C., the terms to paper or go forward with charges refers to the decision to prosecute. LAW & SOCIETY REVIEW, Volume 21, Number 2 (1987)

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