The case for screening

By Jess Sorensen, Kevin Himberger, JJ Naddeo, Rory Pulvino, and Jared Fishman

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Glossary

  • disproportionality – A difference in number: an over-representation of one group relative to the general population, for example where Black individuals make up a majority of defendants, but are a minority in the population.
  • disparity - A difference in treatment: where like cases are treated differently or where the impact of decisions affect one group more than another.
  • charged - Formally accused of committing a crime by a governmental authority.
  • charge - The crime, defined by law, of which a person is accused. An arrest charge is determined by the arresting agency, such as a police department. A charge may change during the criminal legal process; therefore, the arrest charge may differ from the filed charge (determined by the prosecuting authority) or the disposition charge (final charge of record when the case is resolved).
  • case - A single charge, or multiple charges, covering all crimes of which a person is accused, stemming from a single incident.
  • convicted - Declared guilty of a charge.
  • disposition - The final resolution of a case.
  • incarcerated - Confined to a jail or prison.
  • concurrent/consecutive sentence - When a defendant is found guilty of multiple charges, they receive a punishment sentence for each charge. If multiple charges receive a carceral sentence, those sentences can be served concurrently (each sentence is served at the same time) or consecutively (each sentence is served one after another).
  • dismissal (charges/cases) - A charge dismissal is when a single charge is dropped. A case dismissal is when all charges in a case are dropped.
  • pretrial diversion - An alternative to prosecution which seeks to divert people from traditional criminal processing into a program of supervision and services, under certain circumstances.