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Home CCSU Theses & Dissertations Victim influence on prosecutorial decision-making

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Identifier	Thesis 2237
Author	Vertefeuille, LeeAnn M., 1984-
Title	Victim influence on prosecutorial decision-making
Publisher	Central Connecticut State University
Date	2012
Resource Type	Master's Thesis
Notes	The role of the victim in the criminal justice process has changed drastically over the past forty years, from a once invisible role to a very active one. Victims today have State Constitutional Rights, which allow them to be involved in and provide input regarding their defendant's case. Despite efforts to increase the presence of victims in the criminal justice process, researchers know little about how victim involvement actually influences prosecutorial decision-making as most research has focused on victim input and its influence on sentencing decisions. The present study sought to determine if a victim's involvement in a particular motor vehicle case would influence the prosecutorial decision-making process, specifically prosecutors' decisions to prosecute, their charging decisions, and sentencing recommendations. This study utilized a simple experimental design where victim involvement in a motor vehicle case was manipulated (victim involvement vs. no victim involvement). Prosecutors in the State of Connecticut were randomly assigned to one of the two experimental conditions through the use of a link to one of two online surveys created via Survey Monkey. The total sample of participants consisted of 40 prosecutors in the State of Connecticut. Invitations to participate in the research study were emailed to all (258) prosecutors currently employed by the State. It was hypothesized that the victim's involvement/lack of involvement would influence the prosecutorial decision-making process. The first hypothesis was that prosecutors in the victim involvement group would be more likely to prosecute the defendant than prosecutors in the non-involvement group. The second hypothesis was that prosecutors in the victim involvement group would be more likely to select felony charges when seeking to prosecute the defendant than those in the non-involvement group. The third hypothesis was that prosecutors in the victim involvement group would be more likely to increase the charge to persistent felony offender than prosecutors in the non-involvement group. The fourth hypothesis was that prosecutors in the non-involvement group would be more likely to decrease or drop charges than prosecutors in the victim involvement group. The fifth hypothesis was the prosecutors in the victim involvement group would be more confident in obtaining a conviction than prosecutors in the non-involvement group. The sixth and final hypothesis was that prosecutors in the victim involvement group would recommend a harsher sentence than those in the non-involvement group. In terms of this particular motor vehicle case, victim involvement/lack of involvement did not seem to influence the prosecutors' decisions to prosecute, charging selections, their likelihood of increasing the charges, their level of confidence in obtaining a conviction, or their sentencing recommendations. Results, however, did indicate that prosecutors in the non-involvement group were significantly more likely to decrease or drop charges than the prosecutors in the victim involvement group, therefore supporting hypothesis four
Subject	Victims of crimes -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- United States Criminal procedure -- United States Prosecution -- United States -- Decision making
Department	Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice
Advisor	Gregory, Amy Hyman
Type	Text
Digital Format	application/pdf
Language	eng
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