Citation

Farnworth M, Golden J, Tester K. J. Crim. Justice 1991; 19(5): 421-438.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1991, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/0047-2352(91)90017-P

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The findings from earlier research suggest that courts adapt to prison overcrowding through the increased use of charge reductions and felony probation. Analyses with data aggregated from an urban county district court in Texas for each year from 1978 to 1988 did not support those earlier findings. During a period of unprecedented prison and court overloads, charge reductions and the probability of probation decreased, and sentences to state prisons increased. Average prison terms, however, decreased in length. The discussion in this article considers the implications of these findings for strict enforcement attempts and deterrence goals, in the context of what Pontell (1984) has called “a limited capacity to punish.”