TY - JOUR
T1 - Post-Conviction Review on Trial
T2 - When do Appellate Courts Correct for Prosecutorial Misconduct?
AU - Scheuerman, Heather L.
AU - Griffiths, Elizabeth
AU - Medwed, Daniel S.
N1 - Funding Information: The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the James Madison University Program of Grants for Faculty Assistance. Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2022.
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - Appellate courts sometimes provide relief in cases where prosecutors engage in certain actions, either free from scrutiny during investigation (backstage) or under judicial oversight during litigation (front-stage), that go beyond their authority and the law. Yet little is known about how the nature and types of prosecutorial misconduct recognized by appellate courts systematically affect their decisions to provide relief. Using data from the Center for Prosecutor Integrity, we analyze 150 appellate court cases between 2010 and 2015 in which prosecutorial misconduct is substantiated by the courts. We find that higher courts are more likely to correct for cases involving multiple types of misconduct and for cases in which the misconduct occurs “backstage,” outside of judicial oversight, rather than during litigation.
AB - Appellate courts sometimes provide relief in cases where prosecutors engage in certain actions, either free from scrutiny during investigation (backstage) or under judicial oversight during litigation (front-stage), that go beyond their authority and the law. Yet little is known about how the nature and types of prosecutorial misconduct recognized by appellate courts systematically affect their decisions to provide relief. Using data from the Center for Prosecutor Integrity, we analyze 150 appellate court cases between 2010 and 2015 in which prosecutorial misconduct is substantiated by the courts. We find that higher courts are more likely to correct for cases involving multiple types of misconduct and for cases in which the misconduct occurs “backstage,” outside of judicial oversight, rather than during litigation.
KW - appellate courts
KW - harmless error
KW - miscarriages of justice
KW - prosecutorial misconduct
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U2 - https://doi.org/10.1177/00111287221084288
DO - https://doi.org/10.1177/00111287221084288
M3 - Article
SN - 0011-1287
JO - Crime and Delinquency
JF - Crime and Delinquency
ER -