Legal change and local norms in federal courts: A qualitative field study of federal case processing and negotiations, post-Booker

University Of California-Irvine, Irvine CA

Investigators

Abstract

Several recent Supreme Court decisions have rendered the federal sentencing guidelines advisory (US v. Booker, Gall v. US, 2007; Kimbrough v. US, 2007), thereby returning discretion to federal judges to impose non-Guidelines sentences. This research project aims to qualitatively examine the ramifications of these cases for case adjudication in federal drug trafficking cases. To date, the research that has examined Booker's impact has primarily relied upon the Sentencing Commission's outcome data; this project will supplement those analyses with systematic, qualitative field research which will demonstrate how local courts have responded to the dramatic policy change brought about by Booker, et al. The project is comprised of case studies set in Federal Defender's offices in four distinct districts that differ from each other in overall size; size of criminal and drug trafficking caseload; demonstrated rate and type of sentence outcome variations; and geographic location. Direct observations, in-depth interviews, and case file data will be used to develop a detailed account of how sentencing is and has been done in each district pre- and post-Booker, particularly in regard to guilty plea negotiations. Portraits of the case processing norms in each district will be developed to supplement what is captured in formal sentence outcome data, and to provide a contextualized picture of contemporary federal sentencing that accounts for how localized institutional processes shape case outcomes. The project aims to contribute to theoretical debates about the changing nature of criminal justice administration, and advance understandings of criminal courts as culturally embedded legal organizations as they juggle the competing demands of technical rationality and quests for justice their operation. The research will inform how policy change differentially plays out on the ground, and will provide insights into how policies can most effectively be implemented in the diverse locales that comprise the federal district court system.