“Copping a plea” in Tennessee: An examination of the bureaucratic rationale used to administer justice in the criminal court process
Abstract
This thesis research attempted to examine the bureaucratic rationale that prosecutors, public defenders, and defense attorneys use to administer justice in the criminal court process in the state of Tennessee via web-based survey. The statistical analysis of Spearman's rho was used to measure the correlations of 441 possible relationships of respondent demographics and the plea bargain determinates that are used in the negotiations. The response rate was 17 percent (n=630) and of the seven independent and demographic variables for the respondents correlated with the 21 dependent plea bargaining determinates, none of the correlation coefficients were computed to be at the "very strong" level. Results of this research indicate that the determinates to make a decision for a plea bargain are not influenced by the demographics of prosecutors, public defenders, or defense attorneys in Tennessee.
Subject Area
Political science|Criminology
Recommended Citation
Lindsay Sidney Gilmore,
"“Copping a plea” in Tennessee: An examination of the bureaucratic rationale used to administer justice in the criminal court process"
(2008).
ETD Collection for Tennessee State University.
Paper AAI1456723.
https://digitalscholarship.tnstate.edu/dissertations/AAI1456723