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Criminal Justice Reform, Monetary Incentives, and Policy Evaluation

NCJ Number
125075
Journal
Law and Policy Volume: 12 Issue: 1 Dated: (January 1990) Pages: 81-102
Author(s)
M Heumann; T W Church
Date Published
1990
Length
22 pages
Annotation
Innovation in criminal justice frequently fails or is perceived as having failed.
Abstract

In this paper we look at a highly imaginative, quintessentially 1980's innovation -- the use of financial incentives to encourage prosecutors to process more quickly their oldest cases and their cases involving defendants incarcerated pre-trial. Measured by conventional "bottom line" criteria, the incentive scheme can be labeled a failure. But measured by the limited actual success at least one office achieved and by the general effectiveness of the incentives as motivators for three out of the four offices studied, a somewhat more positive assessment of the efficacy of incentives can be fashioned. 3 tables, 32 notes, 27 references. (Author abstract)

Date Published: January 1, 1990