By Gabriele Paolini, Elena Kantorowicz-Reznichenko, Stefan Voigt

Over the last three decades, plea bargaining has been adopted by many jurisdictions worldwide. However, a comprehensive account of both its adoption as well as its use is still missing. We survey 174 jurisdictions, finding that 101 allow plea-bargaining. For 52 jurisdictions, we also compute plea-bargaining rates, as the percentage of convictions imposed through plea bargaining over all criminal convictions. Relying on this novel dataset, we find that Muslim-majority populations and the French and Scandinavian legal origins are associated with lower probabilities of formalizing plea bargaining, while democracies are associated with higher probabilities. The Spanish and Socialist legal origins, a looser regulation of the procedure, and jury trials are associated with higher plea-bargaining rates, while higher income levels correlate with higher plea-bargaining rates only up to a certain point.

Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, Volume22, Issue1, March 2025, Pages 27-75

By Emilie Bruzelius and Silvia S. Martins

Recreational cannabis laws (RCL) in the United States (US) can have important implications for people who are non-citizens, including those with and without formal documentation, and those who are refugees or seeking asylum. For these groups, committing a cannabis-related infraction, even a misdemeanor, can constitute grounds for status ineligibility, including arrest and deportation under federal immigration policy—regardless of state law. Despite interconnections between immigration and drug policy, the potential impacts of increasing state cannabis legalization on immigration enforcement are unexplored.

Methods

In this repeated cross-sectional analysis, we tested the association between state-level RCL adoption and monthly, state-level prevalence of immigration arrests and deportations related to cannabis possession. Data were from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. Immigration arrest information was available from Oct-2014 to May-2018 and immigration deportation information were available from Jan-2009 to Jun-2020 for. To test associations with RCLs, we fit Poisson fixed effects models that controlled for pre-existing differences between states, secular trends, and potential sociodemographic, sociopolitical, and setting-related confounders. Sensitivity analyses explored potential violations to assumptions and sensitivity to modeling specifications.

Results

Over the observation period, there were 7,739 immigration arrests and 48,015 deportations referencing cannabis possession. By 2020, 12 stated adopted recreational legalization and on average immigration enforcement was lower among RCL compared to non-RCL states. In primary adjusted models, we found no meaningful changes in arrest prevalence, either immediately following RCL adoption (Prevalence Ratio [PR]: 0.84; [95% Confidence Interval [CI]: 0.57, 1.11]), or 1-year after the law was effective (PR: 0.88 [CI: 0.56, 1.20]). For the

deportation outcome, however, RCL adoption was associated with a moderate relative decrease in deportation prevalence in RCL versus non-RCL states (PR: 0.68 [CI: 0.56, 0.80]; PR 1-year lag: 0.68 [CI: 0.54, 0.82]). Additional analyses were mostly consistent by suggested some sensitivities to modeling specification.

Conclusions

Our findings suggest that decreasing penalties for cannabis possession through state RCLs may reduce some aspects of immigration enforcement related to cannabis possession. Greater attention to the immigration-related consequences of current drug control policies is warranted, particularly as more states weigh the public health benefits and drawbacks of legalizing cannabis.

BMC Public Health volume 24, Article number: 936 (2024)

By Candan Yilmaz

This publication offers a unique comparative analysis of the sentencing of mentally disordered offenders in Türkiye, England and Wales, and the Netherlands, exploring the alignment of these systems with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). While the presence of mental disorders impacts criminal responsibility, the legal responses and practices differ significantly across jurisdictions. The complex sanctioning system in Türkiye faced substantial challenges due to the absence of secure forensic psychiatric facilities until 2018. Despite legal mandates, mentally disordered offenders were often either released or unlawfully detained in prisons, creating a prolonged gap between law and practice. The research highlights how the situation evolved and assesses the lingering issues, which were exacerbated by delays during the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to contextualize the criminal justice system of Türkiye, comparisons are drawn with the criminal justice systems of the Netherlands and England and Wales, two jurisdictions which have distinct and unique frameworks for mentally disordered offenders. The eminent TBS (terbeschikkingstelling) system of the Netherlands and the bifurcated sentencing approach in England and Wales provide valuable points of reference. This publication is of significance in the field of legal academic literature given the paucity of research on the Turkish criminal justice system, carried out in languages other than Turkish. It evaluates the degree to which these systems adhere to or deviate from ECHR standards, thereby providing insights that facilitate improved compliance with human rights requirements. By bridging comparative legal traditions and identifying best practices, this research holds significant societal and academic relevance.

Groningen: University of Groningen Press, 2025. 560p.

By Anthony Duarte, Sophia Hunt, and Matthew Clair

This report describes—and offers recommendations for improving—the quality of attorney-client relationships in a criminal courthouse in Santa Clara County, California. We draw on in-depth interviews and ethnographic observations collected between July 2021 and June 2022 from the Hall of Justice, one of four state courthouses in Santa Clara County that deals with adult criminal cases. Interviews with a diverse sample of 37 defendants suggest that they hold mostly positive views of their relationships with defense attorneys, though such perceptions vary by type of counsel and income. Moreover, among those who hold positive perceptions of their current defense lawyers, some defendants expressed negative attitudes toward, and recounted negative experiences with, current and previous lawyers. Ethnographic observations of public court proceedings further reveal recurring negative attorney-client relationship attributes, including silencing and sidelining, miscommunication, brevity of interaction, and cooperation with the state (or, coercion). We conclude with several immediate and long-range suggestions for improving the quality of defense provision in the county.

Court Listening Project, Report no. 2. Court Listening Project ((c/o Matthew Clair, Stanford University) 2022. 25p.

By The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Arkansas Advisory Committee

On January 19, 2024, the Arkansas Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights adopted a proposal to study the right to counsel for indigent defendants in Arkansas. The focus of the Committee’s inquiry was to examine the role public defenders play in ensuring equal protection of the laws in the administration of justice. The Committee considered public investment and funding available to support the right to counsel for those who cannot afford it and the impact such counsel (or the lack thereof) may have on persistent disparities throughout the criminal justice system based on race, color, sex, disability, and national origin.

Washington, DC: USCCR, 2024. 27p.

By Matteo Tiratelli

This paper assembles the largest set of British survey questions about criminal justice to date (1,190 question-year pairs) and uses it to measure crime concern, punitiveness, support for the death penalty, and the prioritization of crime as a social issue from the 1960s to today. Results lend some support to existing narratives of public opinion, showing that concern and prioritization grew steadily through the 1970s before declining from the mid-2000s, and that support for the death penalty has been falling since at least the 1960s. But they contradict orthodox accounts of the 1980s as a period of rising punitiveness, showing instead that support for tougher policing and sentencing was highly volatile and subject to significant demographic variation until the late 1990s. I also show that crime concern is particularly responsive to the true rate of crime and propose a model for the interaction between these different strands of public opinion.  

The British Journal of Criminology, azae058, https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azae058, Published: 13 August 2024

Edited by Waszkiewicz, Paweł 

This book explores the role of social media in the daily practice of Polish criminal justice and how social media is, in turn, reshaping this practice. Based on empirical research, it confronts common beliefs about how police officers, prosecutors, and judges use social media in their work. Readers will find answers to the following questions: Which social media platforms are popular among law enforcement officers in Poland? How do the police use social media to investigate and prosecute crimes? What are the strategies for using social media to communicate with the community? What strategies are most successful? The findings in this book challenge some popular beliefs and theories about social media in criminal justice. As the first book to explore the use of social media in criminal justice outside of English-speaking countries, this collection of academic research will be of interest to academics focusing on criminology, criminal justice, and policing and will be useful to police leaders and officers, police social media administrators, prosecutors, and judges, who may be inspired by the research to implement new successful and more effective practices.

Abingdon, Oxon, UK: New York: Routledge, 2024.

By Arthur H. Garrison

This article uses five years of data, 2015–2019, from the Washington Post dataset on police use of deadly force and enhances the data with 21 situational and 8 police perceived threat measure variables to put in context the use of force and the disproportionate incidents involving Blacks compared to other races. Rather than comparing percentage race outcomes of police use of force to general population or behavior proxy measures the benchmark of situational contexts of police use of force is used to interpret race percentage distributions by race within the same context. Under this analysis, the top three situations that result in police deadly force involved 1) an assault or civilian call for help, 2) a call for domestic violence, and 3) a police officer being attacked. When viewing police shootings by situation and race percentage distribution, the data shows that police use of force is differentiated. Within the same situations Blacks were more likely to be shot and killed than Whites. Blacks were more likely to be shot by the police in a traffic stop, were more likely to shot by the police mistaking them as armed, were more likely to be shot if they are perceived to be suffering mental illness and were more likely to be shot if the police are responding to call for illegal drug activity than other races in the same situations and contexts that resulted in police use of deadly force.

Journal of Race and Policy 16(1) 2022

By SE Duhart Clarke

The right to an attorney in criminal cases is a constitutional right covered under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution and is considered fundamental to a fair trial. Over two-thirds of criminal court defendants in the United States are unable to afford their own counsel and thus have an attorney given to them by the court (i.e., indigent defendants). Many legal scholars have debated the effectiveness of indigent defense counsel compared to privately retained counsel. However, in the absence of synthesized data on outcomes for indigent defendants, legal scholars commonly cite the pragmatic and theoretical mechanisms for publicly funded defenders’ limitations or strengths to support their arguments about the effectiveness of indigent defense counsel. When empirical evidence on outcomes for indigent defendants is used to support an argument, the research cited is often limited to studies conducted in specific jurisdictions on a specific step in court case processing. Consequently, our overall understanding of outcomes experienced by indigent defendants is limited and disjointed, underscoring the need for a systematic evaluation of the current empirical literature. The goal of the study in this dissertation was to conduct a systematic literature review and meta-analysis on outcomes for defendants with public defenders, defendants with assigned counsel, and defendants with retained attorneys to better understand what (if any) discrepancies exist in criminal justice-related outcomes as a function of indigent defense status. Specifically, this study examined the current empirical literature on pretrial outcomes, case outcomes, sentencing outcomes, and post-case outcomes for indigent defendants compared to defendants with private/retained attorneys and/or public defenders compared to assigned counsel.

 Raleigh NC: North Carolina State University, 2021.112p.

By Conor Casey

This report considers the constitutional role of the Law Officers and defends the institutional status quo. The current configuration of the Attorney General (and Solicitor General), as a law officer with legal and political dimensions, works well. Moving to an alternative (apolitical, technocratic) model of Attorney General would risk excessive legalisation of policy and would reduce political accountability.

London: Policy Exchange, 2023. 29p.

By Will Dobbie and Crystal S. Yang

  We measure the economic costs of the US pretrial system using several complementary approaches and data sources. The pretrial system operates as one of the earliest points of entry in the criminal justice system. It typically represents an individual’s first opportunity to be incarcerated, potentially leading to subsequent long-term damage in the form of family separation, work interruption, loss of housing, and so on. We find that individuals lose almost $30,000 in forgone earnings and social benefits when detained in jail while awaiting the resolution of their criminal cases. These adverse consequences are also present in aggregate measures of economic well-being, with increases in county pretrial detention rates associated with increases in poverty rates and decreases in employment rates. Counties with high levels of pretrial detention also exhibit significantly lower levels of intergenerational mobility among children, consistent with pretrial detention having an adverse impact on young children who may be the dependents of individuals affected by the pretrial system.

Washington DC: Brookings,, 2021. 41p.

Edited by José A. Brandariz, Witold Klaus and Agnieszka Martynowicz   

Forced Mobility of EU Citizens is a critical evaluation from an empirical perspective of existing practices of the use of transnational criminal justice instruments within the European Union. Such instruments include the European Arrest Warrant (EAW), prisoner transfer procedures and criminal law-related deportations. The voices and experiences of people transferred across internal borders of the European Union are brought to the fore in this book. Another area explored is the scope and value of EU citizenship rights in light of cooperation not just between judicial authorities of EU Member States, but criminal justice systems in general, including penitentiary institutions. The novelty of the book lays not only in the fact that it brings to the fore a topic that so far has been under-researched, but it also brings together academics and studies from different parts of Europe – from the west (i.e. the expelling countries) and the east (the receiving countries, with a special focus on two of the jurisdictions most affected by these processes – Poland and Romania). It therefore exposes processes that have so far been hidden, shows the links between sending and receiving countries, and elaborates on the harms caused by those instruments and the very idea of ‘justice’ behind them. This book also introduces a new element to deportation studies as it links to them the institution of the European Arrest Warrant and EU law transfers targeting prisoners and sentenced individuals. With a combination of legal, criminological, and sociological perspectives, this book will be of great interest to scholars and students with an interest in EU law, criminal law, transnational criminal justice, migration/immigration, and citizenship.

New York: London: Routledge, 2024. 227p.

Used book-may contain mark-up

By Alan M. Dershowtiz

Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes once observed that "hard cases make bad law." In Taking Liberties, Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz writes for the layperson about the hard cases and thorny issues that come before our courts today. Should parents be compelled to testify against their own children? Can your employer force you to submit to a random drug test, even if you never have used drugs? Does the government have the right to find out what home videos you have rented? Should an otherwise qualified nominee to the Supreme Court be rejected solely on grounds of his ideology? Where is the line between vigilantism and self-defense? Does the jury have the final say on matters of truth? How should the victims of AIDS be treated in the workplace and in the schools? To scores of questions like these, each arising from the issues of an actual case or controversy, Dershowitz offers incisive and often surprising an- swers. Outspoken, thought-provoking, Taking Liberties is a book to savor and enjoy--a rare opportunity to watch one of America's foremost legal minds at work.

New York. Contemporary Books. 1988. 348p.

By Lorinda Riley

his research report describes a collaboration between the University of Hawaii and Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate Tribal Court. The research team sought to understand when and how tribal judges use restorative approaches in their cases, and they specifically hoped to look at the role of substance use and crime severity in the decision-making process of when to use restorative approaches. The report provides a summary of the research, including conceptualization and re-conceptualization prompted by legal changes and the Covid-19 pandemic, a statement of problem and research question, justice system background, research methodology, and findings; it details the process of collaboration; and provides author reflections on challenges experienced, lessons learned, and successes; and the appendices include supporting documents. The author describes how the research team developed the survey that would be used in the research study, including questions about the role of a tribal court in describing the strength of identification with restorative principles. Survey responses indicated that respondents self-rated their knowledge of traditionally appropriate behavior as a 7.2 and knowledge of modern-day behavior as 7.6 out of 10; respondents overwhelmingly believed that the Tribal Court should focus on “getting to the truth” and “making the perpetrator a productive member of society,” but were equally split about whether the court should “punish the offender” or “make the victim whole.” The author suggests that the results indicate the community has endorsed a desire for a restorative-focused tribal justice system. The author also noted the cultural differences and experiences of individuals living on reservation compared to those in the general population.

University of Hawaiʻi Mānoa: 2023. 64p.

By Duke Law School, Wilson Center for Science and Justice

Nationwide harm lasting and severe causes many, people of millions of tens for these pay to poor too are whom of bulk The. fees and fines mandatory perhaps, fees and fines these of lowest the from arise, surprisingly particularly—cases criminal level minor other and cases traffic Police. misdemeanors and infractions traffic of millions of tens conduct the, far by, are they; year every stops between interaction common most .public the and enforcement law debt legal criminal, more s’What ,people Black burdens disparately 1.poor the and, color of communities debt legal criminal, many For fines their because accumulates from unaffordable were fees and require not do states Most. start the before pay to ability s’person a determine to courts waivers cost-no have they do nor, fees and fines imposing judges required has law the, long too For. indigent the for ,cases criminal level-low in collectors debt as act to assessing first without fines collecting and imposing of suspension the in resulting ultimately, pay to ability to barriers experience who those for privileges driving to get cannot people, license s’driver a Without. payment needs basic their get or, families their of care take, work ,doctor a visiting, school to children their taking like, met .  

Durham, NC: Duke Law School, Wilson Center for Science and Justice, 2021. 18p.

By Maria Rafael

Nearly every person convicted in a Washington court faces the heavy burden of court debt.2 The vast majority of Washingtonians with criminal cases—as many as 90 percent—meet the indigency standard, indicating that they have limited or no ability to repay their court debt.3 People with court debt are more likely to already be burdened by other types of debt, making it even more difficult for them to free themselves of the financial burden of LFOs.

New York: Vera Institute of Justice, 2023. 10p.

Edited by  Mark Maguire, Ursula Rao, and Nils Zurawski

From biometrics to predictive policing, contemporary security relies on sophisticated scientific evidence-gathering and knowledge-making focused on the human body. Bringing together new anthropological perspectives on the complexities of security in the present moment, the contributors to Bodies as Evidence reveal how bodies have become critical sources of evidence that is organized and deployed to classify, recognize, and manage human life. Through global case studies that explore biometric identification, border control, forensics, predictive policing, and counterterrorism, the contributors show how security discourses and practices that target the body contribute to new configurations of knowledge and power. At the same time, margins of error, unreliable technologies, and a growing suspicion of scientific evidence in a “post-truth” era contribute to growing insecurity, especially among marginalized populations.

Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2018. 257p.

Edited by Wojciech Jasin´ski and Karolina Kremens  

This book presents a comprehensive comparative analysis of the substantive and procedural aspects of compensation for wrongful convictions in European countries and the USA, as well as the standard derived from the case law of the European Court of Human Rights. The collection draws comparative conclusions as to the similarities and differences between selected jurisdictions and assesses the effectiveness of the national compensation schemes. This enables the designing of an optimum model of compensation, offering accessibility and effectiveness to the victims of miscarriages of justice and being acceptable to jurisdictions based on common law, and civil law traditions, as well as inquisitorial and adversarial types of criminal process. Moreover, the discussion of the minimum European standard as established in the case law of the European Court of Human Rights enables readers to identify how the Strasbourg Court can contribute to strengthening the compensation scheme. The book will be essential reading for students, academics and policymakers working in the areas of criminal law and procedure.

New York: London: Routledge, 2022. 261p.

By Shannon Tomascak, Preeti Chauhan, and Allie Meizlish

In this report, the Data Collaborative for Justice (DCJ) examines how criminal summons issuance and outcomes have changed in New York City from 2003 to 2019, adding six years of data to update DCJ’s prior report on criminal summons enforcement between 2003 and 2013. This new report builds on DCJ’s prior research by: (1) examining trends in criminal summons issuance and outcomes within the context of significant policy reforms including the implementation of the Criminal Justice Reform Act (CJRA) and changes in marijuana enforcement; (2) assessing trends in summonses by charge type, demographics, borough, warrant issuance, and dispositions; and (3) focusing on the most recent year of data (2019) to help the public and policymakers assess recent enforcement of criminal summonses and identify opportunities for further reform.

New York: The Data Collaborative for Justice (DCJ) at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, 2020. 47p.

By Micaela M. Alvarado

The author of this theses examines the multifaceted factors that are in play during sentencing in the criminal justice system and to fill a gap in the literature regarding sentencing disparities based on race and sex across types of counties, such as rural or urban counties, and whether those patterns have changed over time. The author lists three reasons for the importance of this research: it helps inform recent sentencing reforms aimed at targeting inequalities in the criminal processing system; filling a research gap on county-by-county variation in sentencing disparities by demographic characteristics; and examining longitudinal trends in sentencing constitutes an important step in better understanding influential factors in judicial decision making. The thesis examines trends over time as it addresses two specific research questions: do individuals from urban counties receive harsher sentences than those from rural counties; and does an offender’s race, sex, and county of residence influence the sentencing severity. Results showed that individuals in rural counties received harsher sentences, and revealed evidence of overall increased punitiveness for both urban and rural counties over the last several years. Results also revealed differences in sentencing outcomes based on race/ethnicity and sex between rural and urban counties; specifically, Black males experienced the most severe punishment in both rural and urban counties as well as receiving the most punitive form of punishment over time. Results also demonstrated that rural counties provided more punitive sentences in general, while urban counties have more offenders. The author suggests that urban counties may, as a result, rely on different punishment options due to limited resources. Analyses revealed more lenient sentences for females across rural and urban counties over time.

Huntsville, TX: Sam Houston State University, 2019. 105p.