“In the Furtherance of Justice”: The Effect of Discretion on the ...

variable is personal mitigating characteristics. It has a high coefficient, yet it is in <strong>the</strong> wrong direction.
Again, this is likely caused by having relatively few cases in which this variable is cited by prosecutors in
<strong>the</strong>ir decision to strike a strike. Results for Model 4 can be found in Figure 7.
Variable
Figure 7: Model 4 – Prosecutorial Use <strong>of</strong> <strong>Discretion</strong>
Logit
Coefficient a
35
Standard
Error
Logistic
Coefficient
Expected
Direction
Severity <strong>of</strong> current <strong>of</strong>fenses (sum <strong>of</strong> all charges) - 0.0377 .0670 .9630 Yes
Severity <strong>of</strong> strike <strong>of</strong>fenses (sum <strong>of</strong> all strike convictions) - 0.0226 .0491 .9776 Yes
Total number <strong>of</strong> prison priors - .5958* b
.1960 .5511 Yes
Years between last strike and current <strong>of</strong>fense 0.0334 .0495 1.0340 Yes
De minimis <strong>of</strong>fense 1.5388** .5293 4.6591 Yes
Prior strikes are remote in time 1.1156 ‡ .6006 3.0515 Yes
Defendant has no recent criminal history 2.2479** .7533 9.4677 Yes
Facts <strong>of</strong> prior strikes are mitigating 2.0236** .7134 7.5658 Yes
Defendant has no history <strong>of</strong> violence - 0.1845 1.0908 .8345 No
Defendant has no history <strong>of</strong> weapons possession or use 2.8752 ‡ 1.2604 17.7284 Yes
Defendant has documented history <strong>of</strong> mental illness 3.9114* 1.1999 49.9672 Yes
Prior strikes have pro<strong>of</strong> problems 4.1847* 1.0183 65.6759 Yes
Defendant currently has serious medical problems 1.8986 1.4141 6.6763 Yes
Prior strikes came from <strong>the</strong> same case 0.4814 .5814 1.6183 Yes
Defendant has mitigating personal characteristics - 2.1276** .8176 .1191 No
Facts <strong>of</strong> current <strong>of</strong>fenses are mitigating 0.0141 .6679 1.0142 Yes
Drug convictions 0.0406 .4774 1.0414 No
Number <strong>of</strong> observations 240 Modal 73.3%
Log-likelihood -66.099 Correctly predicted 91.8%
c 2 146.16* Reduction <strong>of</strong> error c
69.3%
a Figures are unstandardized logit coefficients. <strong>The</strong> decision to use discretion is coded 1 if DA discretion is used to strike a strike, 0 if <strong>the</strong> DA chose not
to strike a strike.
b Numbers in bold are significant as follows: * Significant at p