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Assessing the Capriciousness of Death Penalty Charging

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 April 2024

Robert E. Weiss ,
Richard A. Berk  and
Cathrine Y. Lee
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Abstract

We discuss capriciousness in decisions to charge homicide defendants with capital crimes. We propose using Shannon Information to assess capriciousness in a charging system and apply Shannon Information to analyze new data from San Francisco County, California. We show that about two-thirds of the potential systemic capriciousness is removed by the explanatory variables available. The one-third remaining is dependent on inherently unstable features of charging practices that necessarily produce capriciousness.

Type
Articles
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 30 , Issue 3 , 1996 , pp. 607 - 626
Copyright
Copyright © 1996 by The Law and Society Association

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References

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