Data-driven Prosecution Practices: Exploring the Implementation and Impact of Plea Tracking

RTI International, in collaboration with Duke University’s Wilson Center for Science and Justice, proposes a mixed-methods project entitled “Data-driven Prosecution Practices: Exploring the Implementation and Impact of Plea Tracking.” This project introduces a new model, Plea Assessment for Practice Improvement Model (PAPIM). The PAPIM model includes systematic and consistent tracking of plea bargaining processes by prosecutors, report-back of analyzed plea tracking data, and a focused reflection process to translate findings into office practice, policy, and culture. The goal of the proposed 36-month evaluation is to understand how PAPIM impacts plea-bargaining prosecutorial practices, policies, and culture. This model will be implemented and refined in three diverse prosecutors’ offices, varying in geography, office size, and priorities. The study has three objectives: (1) implement and conduct an evaluation of PAPIM; (2) assess the impact of PAPIM on plea bargaining practices, policies, and culture; and (3) disseminate findings to practitioners, policymakers, and researchers.

This study will support three offices to track plea data felony cases for 12 months (more than 7,000 cases across three offices) with fidelity assessments; conduct more than 40 qualitative interviews with prosecutors, defense attorneys, and judges; and conduct three rounds of prosecutor surveys. These data will answer three research questions:

What are the implementation outcomes associated with PAPIM?
What are typical plea bargaining practices and outcomes in each office? What factors influence plea bargaining practices and outcomes? To what extent do plea bargaining practices and outcomes vary by the race/ethnicity of the person charged, by prosecutor, and over time?
How does PAPIM impact plea bargaining practices, policies, and culture?

Although the field has called for increased data transparency with plea bargains, prosecutors or court systems rarely collect quality administrative data to comprehensively understand the process of and factors influencing pleas. This study will use time-series analysis, mixture modeling, and qualitative thematic analysis to examine the trends, influencing factors, and changes of practices, policies, and culture. Guided by implementation study principles, this study will also identify organizational factors that may promote sustainable plea bargaining changes within each office. The team will use PAPIM to examine current practices and provide guided feedback and strategic planning sessions on racial disparities in case outcomes, effective supervision of line prosecutors, and consistency in plea bargaining processes and outcomes. The team will implement a multi-faceted dissemination strategy to ensure the project findings and recommendations reach both academic researchers and a broad, practitioner-focused audience. CA/NCF