Charging and Plea Bargaining Practices under Determinate Sentencing: An Investigation of the Hydraulic Displacement of Discretion

Abstract

Numerous reform activities have been undertaken to minimize discretion within the criminal justice system. Yet, the success of these programs has been questioned on the grounds that discretion will simply resurface at stages of processing not covered by the reform effort.' In fact, this hydraulic or zero-sum effect is so firmly entrenched as a criticism of current reform efforts that most researchers begin with the assumption that the displacement of dis-