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Elaine Nugent
Director
Office of Research and Evaluation
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In the current economic environment, prosecutors are increasingly being asked by state legislatures, county commissions and other funding entities to develop and implement performance measures. In 2002, APRI began an exciting new initiative to aid prosecutors by identifying possible performance measures for prosecutors’ offices. APRI is pleased to announce that the first stage of this project has been completed.
Working with a distinguished group of experienced prosecutors, government officials, academics, and others, APRI developed a framework for examining performance. The framework is based on three goals of prosecution:
To promote the fair, impartial, and expeditious pursuit of justice; to ensure safer communities; and to promote integrity in the prosecution profession and coordination in the criminal justice system.
Each of the three goals is further defined by a number of objectives, such as holding offenders accountable, administering justice in a timely manner, improving service delivery to victims, reducing crime and fear of crime, ensuring competent and professional behavior, managing and administering justice in an efficient and fiscally responsible manner, and promoting consistent and coordinated enforcement efforts.
Together, the study group and APRI articulated an array of possible performance measures that would provide information for prosecutors on how well their offices were achieving various goals and objectives. These measures include commonly used indicators, such as conviction rates, as well as a number of less commonly used indicators, such as time to bring cases to disposition, pleas to original charges, victim/witness feelings of safety and satisfaction, public awareness of prosecutions and outcomes, and costs versus revenues.
The full study results are available in a new publication from APRI entitled, Prosecution in the 21st Century: Goals, Objectives, and Performance Measures. For more information, contact APRI’s Office of Research and Evaluation at research@ndaa-apri.org or (703) 549-4253.
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