| Popis: |
In Chapter 6, we examine the highly discretionary decision of federal prosecutors to bring or decline to bring prosecutions in individual criminal matters. This is a critical agenda-setting decision for the criminal justice system: when a prosecutor declines to bring a prosecution, no further action is taken against a suspect. Despite the importance of these decisions, there is also no formal oversight mechanism in place for individual federal prosecutorial choices to pursue or decline prosecution. After examining the descriptive data and underlying policies on federal declinations, we present an empirical test of how presidential, congressional, and local public political factors affect the decision to prosecute or decline to prosecute federal criminal matters. To do so, we analyze data containing nearly 200,000 federal criminal matters from 1996 to 2011 involving violent crime. Our results reveal sizable political effects on whether U.S. Attorneys bring violent crime prosecutions. |
