Pretrial Settlement Conference: An Evaluation

active additional analysis appears appropriate arraignment assigned attendance attitudes attorneys average changes Chapter charges closed compared comparison comparison judges conference procedure control groups counsel court courtroom criminal criminal justice Dade County decision defendant differences direction discussion disposition dropped effects ence evaluation expected experience explained extent facts ference findings further given greater groups guilty held implementation included indicate interviews involved issues judicial jurisdiction lay participation lay parties less mean measure method negotiations non-conference observer occurred offense Office pattern percent person plea police positive possible practices presented pretreatment pretrial settlement conference prior problems professional proportion Prosecutor question reached recommendations record relatively reported respondents result role sample satisfaction scale scheduled score selected sentence settle severity shows significant significantly similar staff statistically suggest summary Table test judges tion treatment conditions trial victims