Timely justice: How case screening improves efficiency, effectiveness, and fairness
Evidence from a randomized controlled trial
By Justice Innovation Lab Staff
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Glossary
Below are select definitions of terms used throughout this report. For a further discussion of the screening process and the data used in this report, refer to the "About" and "Experimental design and data" pages. You can also learn more about the prosecutorial process and use of data in prosecution through JIL's criminal justice explainer.
- Randomized controlled trial (RCT): The gold standard for research, randomized controlled trials are used in medical and policy research to measure effectiveness. Generally, an RCT consists of two groups—one that receives the "treatment" and one that does not—with the treatment being the key difference between the groups. In this report, the individuals involved in the RCT were those charged with low-level crimes, like small-amount drug possession or shoplifting below a certain dollar value. These individuals were divided into two distinct groups: the "treatment" group, whose cases were reviewed by a screening attorney, and the "control" group, whose cases followed the usual practice for the office, where the case is immediately assigned to a line prosecutor.
- Line prosecutor: Line prosecutors are government attorneys responsible for prosecuting criminal cases. Line prosecutors have different names in different states—in South Carolina, they are referred to as assistant solicitors, while in other states they are referred to as assistant district attorneys. In this report, we refer to the assistant solicitor assigned to prosecute the case as the line prosecutor.
- Screening attorney: The screening attorney is an assistant solicitor who reviews cases upon receipt of information from law enforcement. The screening attorney does not prosecute cases; instead, they may dismiss or remand cases, or refer them to line prosecutors for further evaluation, which can lead to prosecution, diversion, dismissal, or remand.
- Dismissal: Charges can be dismissed, where the charge is dropped and the individual is not convicted. In this report, a case is considered to be dismissed if all charges in that case are dismissed.
- Remand: Charges can be remanded, where the charge is changed to a less severe charge and, in accordance with local laws, sent to a lower court. In this report, a case is considered to be remanded if at least one charge is remanded and no charges are guilty.
- Non-felony prosecution: In this report, we consider cases where all charges are dismissed or remanded to be “non-felony prosecution” because such cases are removed from prosecution by the Ninth Circuit Solicitor’s Office. Though remanded cases may still result in an individual being convicted of a misdemeanor, the punishment is much less severe.
- Diversion: Diversion programs encompass a wide variety of practices and are generally designed to remove cases from a traditional track of prosecution involving jail or prison time. In the Ninth Circuit, diversion refers to a specific set of programs that require evaluation by a diversion coordinator. Because of this practice, screening attorneys did not divert cases, though line prosecutors could divert cases regardless of whether they were screened or not.
- Low-level crimes: The Ninth Circuit Solicitor's Office considers certain drug possession, drug possession with intent to distribute, gun possession, and property crimes to be low-level. These crimes do not involve any violence or physical harm to a victim. Drug crimes are only considered low-level if they involve a small amount of drugs, as determined by the South Carolina legislature.