1st Edition

Criminal Courts

By Aaron Kupchik Copyright 2006
    426 Pages
    by Routledge

    426 Pages
    by Routledge

    The social organization of criminal courts is the theme of this collection of articles. The volume provides contributions to three levels of social organization in criminal courts: (1) the macro-level involving external economic, political and social forces (Joachim J. Savelsberg; Raymond Michalowski; Mary E. Vogel; John Hagan and Ron Levi); (2) the meso-level consisting of formal structures, informal cultural norms and supporting agencies in an interlocking organizational network (Malcolm M. Feeley; Lawrence Mohr; Jo Dixon; Jeffrey T. Ulmer and John H. Kramer), and (3) the micro-level consisting of interactional orders that emerge from the social discourses and categorizations in multiple layers of bargaining and negotiation processes (Lisa Frohmann; Aaron Kupchik; Michael McConville and Chester Mirsky; Bankole A. Cole). An editorial introduction ties these levels together, relating them to a Weberian sociology of law.

    Contents: Series preface; Introduction; Part I Macro-Level Organization: Law that does not fit society: sentencing guidelines as neoclassical reaction to the dilemmas of substantivized law, Joachim J. Savelsberg; Between citizens and the socialist state: the negotiation of legal practice in socialist Cuba, Raymond J. Michalowski; The social origins of plea bargaining: conflict and the law in the process of state formation, 1830-1860, Mary E. Vogel; Crimes of war and the force of law, John Hagan and Ron Levi . Part II Meso-Level Organization: Two models of the criminal justice system: an organizational perspective, Malcolm M. Feeley; Organizations, decisions, and courts, Lawrence B. Mohr; The organizational context of criminal sentencing, Jo Dixon; The use and transformation of formal decision-making criteria: sentencing guidelines, organizational contexts, and case processing strategies, Jeffery T. Ulmer and John H. Kramer. Part III Micro-Level Organization: Convictability and discordant locales: reproducing race, class, and gender ideologies in prosecutorial decisionmaking, Lisa Frohmann; Youthfulness, responsibility and punishment: admonishing adolescents in criminal court, Aaron Kupchik; Guilty plea courts: a social disciplinary model of criminal justice, Mike McConville and Chester Mirsky; Rough justice: criminal proceedings in Nigerian magistrates courts, Bankole A. Cole Name index.

    Biography

    Kupchik, Aaron