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Elaine Nugent, Director, Office of Research and Evaluation
This has been a busy time for APRI’s Office of Research and Evaluation (OR&E). As devoted readers of APRI Highlights and The Prosecutor will recall, OR&E recently completed a major study of prosecutorial caseload and workload using an innovative, APRI-originated methodology. The results of that study indicated that a variety of factors affect case processing times and, in turn, the number of cases that any one person can handle, making national caseload standards impossible. However, the methodology and the results of the study offered great promise for developing jurisdiction-specific caseload standards.
OR&E has begun related work in two local prosecutors’ offices. In Pima County, AZ, APRI staff is conducting a comprehensive caseload and workload assessment of county prosecutors. Data collection began on September 16 and will continue through the middle of November. Similarly, OR&E is part of a research team evaluating the criminal justice system in Spokane, WA. In this audit, APRI’s responsibilities center on an analysis of the City Prosecutor’s office operations and case processing.
Also, OR&E will soon complete a management audit of the Pierce County, WA, Prosecutor’s office. The project involved two site visits with intensive interviews of local representatives, followed by extensive analyses of prosecution data in terms of how cases were handled and to what end.
Another project approaching closure is a national survey of local prosecutors’ offices regarding their policies and practices in elder abuse cases—how such cases are investigated and prosecuted, and how victim advocacy services are provided. Already completed as part of the project are a review of the social science research literature on elder abuse; a series of “expert interviews” with individuals who shared their perspectives on elder abuse and prosecutorial efforts regarding such crimes; and site visits to three local prosecutors’ offices having promising efforts in combating elder abuse. The latter part of the study should be able to offer useful ideas for prosecutors interested in developing their own elder abuse units.
Finally, OR&E received funding from the Department of Justice to describe local prosecutors’ gun prosecution strategies. The 18-month study will:
- Document components of current gun prosecution approaches and identify areas of need;
- Assess how gun prosecution strategies change over time and how they impact important case outcomes;
- Conduct site visits with local prosecutors’ offices having promising gun prosecution strategies; and
- Disseminate this information to prosecutors, law enforcement, other criminal justice practitioners, and policymakers.
Contact OR&E at (703) 549-4253 or research@ndaa-apri.org.
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