Doctoral Dissertation Research: The People and Process of Federal Criminal Cases

相当大比例的美国人在生活中的某个时候会接触到刑事审判法庭。刑事案件的审理过程会产生巨大的个人、经济和社会成本。本研究将探讨刑事案件的动态多阶段过程，以及法庭专业人员在刑事案件发展中所扮演的角色。具体地说，这项研究考察了法官、辩护律师和检察官对被告面临的结果有什么影响。通过这样做，它希望提供可能改善美国司法的发现。这个项目将收集联邦刑事案件处理的原始数据。它使用了从2006年到2013年23个联邦地区法院的9200起被判刑被告的分层随机样本。在随后的统计分析中具体询问的领域包括被告是否被释放或被关押在拘留所等待审判、每起案件的判决时间长短以及对被定罪被告的判刑严重程度。这项研究将考虑法官、辩护律师和检察官的背景和偏好如何影响这些关键阶段。这些结果将为初审法院的决策提供关键的见解，目前的许多研究仍未对此进行充分的探索。

A substantial proportion of Americans come into contact with a criminal trial court at some point in their lives. The process of adjudicating criminal cases asserts significant personal, financial, and social costs. This study will investigate the dynamic multi-stage process of the criminal case and what role courtroom professionals have in its development. Specifically, this study examines what influence judges, defense attorneys, and prosecutors have on the outcomes faced by the accused. In so doing, it hopes to offer findings that may improve the administration of justice in America.This project will collect original data on the processing of federal criminal cases. It uses a stratified random sample of 9,200 cases of sentenced defendants from 23 federal district courts for 2006 to 2013. Specific areas of inquiry in the subsequent statistical analysis include whether a defendant is released or held in a detention facility pending trial, the amount of time it takes for each case to be adjudicated, and the severity of sentence imposed upon the convicted defendant. The study will consider how the backgrounds and preferences of judges, defense attorneys, and prosecutors impact these essential stages. The results will give key insights into trial court decision-making, which remains underexplored by much of the current research.