Probable Cause at Three Levels of Decision-Making

Abstract

ABSTRACT Do police, sheriff's deputies, grand jurors, and judges reach the same conclusions on common legal issues? There has been both concern and speculation that decision-making at the same and different levels of law enforcement often varies to the point where justice is denied. To answer this and related questions, an instrument was devised based on the issue of probable cause in criminal court cases. Analysis of the data, gathered from local enforcement personnel, reveals enough variation to call for programs and procedures to produce more uniformity.