The Law was widely advertised with proponents claiming that it would introduce greater equity in sentences, ensure certainty of punishment, and decrease violent crime in the state. We examine the processing of these Gun Law cases in Detroit Recorders Court, as well as the effects of the law on crime, and find that most of the goals of the Law's proponents are not met. Notwithstanding a rigid prosecutorial policy which prohibited plea bargaining in these gun cases, alternative mechanisms developed to mitigate the Law's effects and, in most instances, to preserve the 'going rate' for various crime categories. Similarly, using an interrupted time-series model, we are unable to uncover effects of the law, or the associated publicity campaign, on violent crime. (Publisher abstract)
Downloads
Related Datasets
Similar Publications
- Audit of the Office of Justice Programs Victim Assistance Funds Subawarded by the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency to the Victim Services Center of Montgomery County, Inc., Norristown, Pennsylvania
- Machine Learning Analysis on Gunshot Recognition
- The Impact of a Youth-focused Problem-oriented Policing Initiative on Crime: Findings from a Randomized Controlled Trial in Three Cities