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National Institute Justice-funded Research Study on Legal Decision-Making
The top-ranked School of Criminal Justice at the University at Albany recently received a prestigious grant from the National Institute of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice. The grant is to survey national samples of prosecutors, criminal defense attorneys, and judges. If you are or ever have been one of these legal actors, the Principal Investigators, Professors Allison Redlich and Shawn Bushway, invite you to be part of this survey.
The goal of the survey is to compare and contrast the legal decision-making of prosecutors, criminal defense attorneys, and judges. We are particularly interested in decisions to take or offer a plea, or to proceed to trial. As you are aware, almost all convictions are the result of plea bargains. Thus, it is quite surprising that there has been very little research done on pleas. We are hoping to fill this gap in knowledge by hearing from the people intimately involved in the adjudication process.
The survey is done entirely online, and can be accessed here: WWW.MODILS.ORG. The survey takes approximately 15 minutes to complete. If you are a Judge, a prosecutor, or a defense attorney, please check it out!
The survey is also completely voluntary and anonymous; no identifying information is requested. We begin with a few background questions. Next, we ask you to read one brief scenario of a hypothetical crime, review case facts of the crime, and then make decisions about possible plea deals you would offer or accept. Although we realize that a hypothetical scenario does not fully approximate real life, we ask you to please act as close to what you would do if this were an actual case.
You can get more information about the survey by clicking here: WWW.MODILS.ORG.
Your experience, knowledge, and perceptions are instrumental to furthering insight into legal decision-making. We are excited about the potential for our study to increase understanding of criminal justice policies and procedures. Please join us in this endeavor by providing us with your anonymous expertise and opinions.
If you have questions, feel free to contact Professor Redlich (aredlich@albany.edu; 518-442-4217) or Professor Bushway (sbushway@albany.edu; 518-591-8738).
Thank you for your attention,
Allison Redlich, Ph.D. Shawn Bushway, Ph.D. |
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