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TRIAL COURTS AS ORGANIZATIONS: A Critique and Synthesis
Author(s) -
CLYNCH EDWARD J.,
NEUBAUER DAVID W.
Publication year - 1981
Publication title -
law and policy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.534
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1467-9930
pISSN - 0265-8240
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9930.1981.tb00236.x
Subject(s) - workgroup , categorization , adversarial system , political science , criminology , criminal behaviour , sociology , public relations , law , computer science , artificial intelligence , computer network
This article has two purposes: (1) to suggest that the informal workgroup is the most appropriate concept from organization theory to explain both participant behavior occurring in criminal trial courts and trial court outputs; and (2) to use the informal workgroup framework to structure the findings generated by previous studies of trial courts. The informal workgroup proves to be a useful way to account for the disjuncture between the adversarial expectations and regularized individual behavior patterns researchers find in criminal trial courts. Furthermore, this concept provides a vehicle to explain the development of uniformities in output such as a classification of criminals, the categorization of crime, and sentencing yardsticks. The conclusion discusses the implications of the informal workgroup for efforts aimed at court reform.