Prosecutors wield immense power in the criminal court process, and their actions and decisions can have profound consequences on the lives of defendants. Yet, while punishment scholars have given ample attention on incarceration, policing, and judges, we know relatively little about how prosecutors make decisions regarding charging and plea bargaining. This talk focuses on the subtle, and sometimes hidden, ways in which prosecutors exert power over criminal defendants prior to adjudication.

Drawing on an ethnographic study in two midwestern district attorney’s offices, Packard will explore how prosecutors evaluate defendants’ behavior pretrial as they decide the charges and sentencing recommendations of their plea offers and will show how prosecutors make decisions not just based on the legal facts of the case, but also on their perceived performances of defendants pretrial. More specifically, she finds that there are four main types of pretrial performances that prosecutors demand and evaluate: (1) abiding by the rules of the court, (2) addressing the harm caused by the crime, (3) engaging with social services, and (4) demonstrating positive attitude and demeanor. She argues that with these practices, prosecutors take on the role of managing defendants’ behaviors prior to conviction and molding them into governable citizens, rather than simply prosecuting individuals accused of crimes. This form of pretrial governance extends punishment and social control beyond sentencing and risks exacerbating inequalities as more privileged defendants have greater resources to meet the performance demands of prosecutors compared to disadvantaged defendants.

Chiara C. Packard is an assistant professor in the department of sociology and criminology at the University of Utah. Her research uses primarily qualitative methods to explore the political and social processes that shape punishment, and how punishment, in turn, reproduces inequality. Packard’s book project draws on twelve months of ethnographic fieldwork in two midwestern district attorney’s offices to investigate how prosecutors make decisions regarding charging and plea-bargaining.

Sponsored by the sociology department, American Studies Program, and the Division of History and Social Sciences. Free and open to the public.