Case processing in the Harris county, Texas criminal justice system: A comparison across crime types

Abstract

This study tested the hypothesis that when the criminal justice system is working under a “limited capacity to punish,” the processing of some types of crimes might be emphasized over the processing of other types. This hypothesis was tested through a comparison of the processing of sexual assault cases with the processing of robbery and aggravated assault over the period 1980–1988 in Harris County, Texas. Prison use was found to increase for aggravated assault and for sexual assault of both children and adults while for robbery the use of prison decreased slightly. Jail usage increased for aggravated assault and robbery while it decreased for sexual assault cases. Prison sentence lengths also tended to increase except for cases of aggravated assault. These trends seem to suggest that sexual assault cases are not dismissed during times of a limited capacity to punish. However, there was some evidence that at earlier points of processing there was a reluctance to prosecute cases of sexual assault of an adult. Thus, it is premature to conclude that in times of a limited capacity to punish, the prosecution of violent crimes committed against women might be deemphasized to make space for cases more likely to end in conviction. Rather, criminal case processing includes more complexities than can be captured simply through an examination of the likelihood of conviction.