Legal change and local norms in federal courts: A qualitative field study of federal case processing and negotiations, post-Booker

最高法院最近的几项裁决使联邦量刑准则具有咨询性（美国诉布克案，Gall诉美国案，2007年;金布罗诉美国案，2007年），从而使联邦法官恢复了判处非准则性刑罚的酌处权。本研究项目的目的是定性研究这些案件的后果，案件判决在联邦贩毒案件。迄今为止，研究布克的影响主要依赖于量刑委员会的结果数据;该项目将通过系统的、定性的实地研究来补充这些分析，这些研究将展示地方法院如何应对布克带来的巨大政策变化，该项目包括在总体规模各不相同的四个不同地区的联邦辩护人办公室进行的案例研究;犯罪和贩毒案件的数量;已证明的判决结果差异的比率和类型;以及地理位置。直接观察，深入访谈和案件档案数据将被用来制定一个详细的说明如何判刑，并已在每个地区之前和之后布克，特别是在认罪谈判。每个地区的案件处理规范的肖像将被开发，以补充在正式的判决结果数据中捕获的内容，并提供当代联邦判决的背景图片，说明本地化的制度流程如何塑造案件结果。该项目旨在促进关于刑事司法管理性质变化的理论辩论，并促进对刑事法院作为文化嵌入的法律的组织的理解，因为它们在技术理性的竞争需求和对司法的追求之间寻求平衡。这项研究将告知政策变化如何在实地发挥差异，并将提供有关如何在组成联邦地区法院系统的不同地区最有效地实施政策的见解。

Several recent Supreme Court decisions have rendered the federal sentencing guidelines advisory (US v. Booker, Gall v. US, 2007; Kimbrough v. US, 2007), thereby returning discretion to federal judges to impose non-Guidelines sentences. This research project aims to qualitatively examine the ramifications of these cases for case adjudication in federal drug trafficking cases. To date, the research that has examined Booker's impact has primarily relied upon the Sentencing Commission's outcome data; this project will supplement those analyses with systematic, qualitative field research which will demonstrate how local courts have responded to the dramatic policy change brought about by Booker, et al. The project is comprised of case studies set in Federal Defender's offices in four distinct districts that differ from each other in overall size; size of criminal and drug trafficking caseload; demonstrated rate and type of sentence outcome variations; and geographic location. Direct observations, in-depth interviews, and case file data will be used to develop a detailed account of how sentencing is and has been done in each district pre- and post-Booker, particularly in regard to guilty plea negotiations. Portraits of the case processing norms in each district will be developed to supplement what is captured in formal sentence outcome data, and to provide a contextualized picture of contemporary federal sentencing that accounts for how localized institutional processes shape case outcomes. The project aims to contribute to theoretical debates about the changing nature of criminal justice administration, and advance understandings of criminal courts as culturally embedded legal organizations as they juggle the competing demands of technical rationality and quests for justice their operation. The research will inform how policy change differentially plays out on the ground, and will provide insights into how policies can most effectively be implemented in the diverse locales that comprise the federal district court system.