Proposition 27: Special Prosecution
Proposition 27: Special prosecution units do not produce either higher conviction rates or lower crime rates
According to the data that Walker has cited, special prosecution units have not produced different results from regular prosecution teams. The data that Walker cited came from a San Diego, CA prosecutorial office. However, in an article published by the National Institute of Justice in the Office of Justice Programs, the data leads to a different conclusion. In Cook County, Illinois (Chicago) the conviction rate increased from 50% to 71% when using a special prosecution team. In Milwaukee, the conviction rate increases five times over when a domestic violence prosecution team was put in place. The key factor however, that was mentioned in this article was that the …show more content…
He states that it directly attacks the mens rea requirement. Hence if a criminal was to plead NGRI (Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity) they have thereby eliminated the possibility that they could have had the mental capacity to commit the crime. However, in an article written by Kenneth B. Chiacchia for Psychology Encyclopedia, it is noted that less than 1 out of every 100 defendants plead NGRI. The actual statistic is .85%. Additionally, the statistics state that nearly 70% of those defendants who did plead NGRI withdrew their plea after they were found to be mentally sane. The high-profile cases that really grab the headlines are the cases that skew the public view of the NGRI defense and sit atop the “wedding cake”. Essentially, the defense is not used often and when it is used an extremely small fraction of defendants actually go through with the defense. By limiting the use of the defense, the crime rate should decrease in theory because persons intending on committing crimes will know prior to the act that they will not be able to plead
According to the data that Walker has cited, special prosecution units have not produced different results from regular prosecution teams. The data that Walker cited came from a San Diego, CA prosecutorial office. However, in an article published by the National Institute of Justice in the Office of Justice Programs, the data leads to a different conclusion. In Cook County, Illinois (Chicago) the conviction rate increased from 50% to 71% when using a special prosecution team. In Milwaukee, the conviction rate increases five times over when a domestic violence prosecution team was put in place. The key factor however, that was mentioned in this article was that the …show more content…
He states that it directly attacks the mens rea requirement. Hence if a criminal was to plead NGRI (Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity) they have thereby eliminated the possibility that they could have had the mental capacity to commit the crime. However, in an article written by Kenneth B. Chiacchia for Psychology Encyclopedia, it is noted that less than 1 out of every 100 defendants plead NGRI. The actual statistic is .85%. Additionally, the statistics state that nearly 70% of those defendants who did plead NGRI withdrew their plea after they were found to be mentally sane. The high-profile cases that really grab the headlines are the cases that skew the public view of the NGRI defense and sit atop the “wedding cake”. Essentially, the defense is not used often and when it is used an extremely small fraction of defendants actually go through with the defense. By limiting the use of the defense, the crime rate should decrease in theory because persons intending on committing crimes will know prior to the act that they will not be able to plead