Case Quotas in the Court: an Analysis of the Allocation of Judicial Resources

• Date: 01 July 1982
• Published date: 01 July 1982
• DOI: 10.1177/002242788201900205
• Author: Eli Noam
• Subject Matter: Articles

204

CASE

QUOTAS

IN

THE

COURT:

AN

ANALYSIS

OF

THE

ALLOCATION

OF

JUDICIAL

RESOURCES

ELI

NOAM

The

paper

develops

analytic

criteria

for

the

selection

of

the

optimal

"mix"

of

trials

in

a

congested

court

system.

It

describes

a

model

generating

case

quotas

for

major

categories

of

crime

that

maximizes

the

reduction

in

the

overall

social

losses

due

to

crime.

The

empirical

results

for

the

District

of

Columbia

suggest

that

scarce

court

time

should

be

heavily

allocated

to

trials

for

robbery

and

burglary.

This

paper

deals

with

the

optimal

mix

of

case

categories

in

a

con-

gested

court

system,

with

respect

to

reducing

the

social

losses

from

crime.

Although

it

concentrates

on

criminal

cases,

a

similar

analysis

can

be

applied

to

civil

cases

and

to

proceedings

before

administrative

agencies.

According

to

popular

belief,

a

criminal

defendant’s

guilt

is

de-

termined

through

trial,

by

a

judge

or

jury.

Actually,

with

the

congestion

in

most

big-city

criminal

justice

systems,

very

few

defendants

are

tried.

Court

time

is

a

precious

commodity,

to

be

used

on

rare

occasions

only;

most

cases

are

disposed

of

in

other

ways.

Given

the

scarcity

of

court

time,

it

is

important

to

consider

how

this

resource

ought

to

be

used.

Despite

the

practical

significance

of

the

question,

it

has

received

only

little

meaningful

or

systematic

analysis

by

lawyers

or

court

admin-

istrators

(ABA,

1959;

Hazard,

1965).

If

the

issue

is

addressed

at

all,

the

discussion

typically

consists

merely

of

a

listing

of

different

factors,

in-

cluding

the

severity

of

the

offense

(a

criterion

that

means

different

things

to

different

people),’

the

probability

that

the

prosecutor

will

be

successful

in

a

trial

(even

though

the

probability

of

winning

a

trial

is

very

similar

for

the

major

offense

classes’),

the

anticipated

cost

of

a

ELI

NOAM:

Associate

Professor,

Graduate

School

of

Business,

Columbia

Umver-

sity,

New

York

City.

1.

Seriousness

scales

are

robust,

however,

across

various

populations

surveyed

(Figlio, 1975).

2.

However,

the

probability

that

indicted

cases

will

result

in

a

conviction

varies

among

offense

categories.

(See

Administrative

Office

of

U.S.

Courts,

1960:81ff.)