Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
Date of Degree
2-2025
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Program
Criminal Justice
Advisor
Heath Brown
Committee Members
Brian Lawton
Deborah Koetzle
Andrés Rengifo
Subject Categories
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Keywords
pretrial justice, Criminal Justice Reform, courtroom workgroup, judicial reasoning
Abstract
New Jersey's Criminal Justice Reform (CJR) has positioned the state as a leader in pretrial reform aimed at reducing racial inequality, enhancing consistency in pretrial decision-making, and promoting community safety. Yet, there is limited understanding of how courtroom workgroups adopted and implemented the reform, the themes of their arguments, and the primary factors influencing judicial decision-making and departures from recommendations in detention hearings. This study addresses this gap by providing detailed, observation-based insights into detention hearings held in two New Jersey counties, collected during the summer of 2020.
Integrating the court community and focal concerns perspectives, this dissertation extends their implications to remote hearings and identifies additional factors influencing detention hearings. The analysis explores the impact of defendants' legal and extralegal characteristics on judicial decisions, revealing that traditional focal concerns perspectives may not fully account for judicial discretion in the context of risk assessment tools. This study also shows that judges' reasoning in making detention decisions is more selective based on their understanding of the case rather than solely relying on the arguments of prosecutors and defense attorneys. This analysis also identifies significant county-level variations in judicial reasoning when departing from the recommendation.
The findings suggest that while the CJR has promoted a risk-based system, there are information gaps extending beyond the legal biography to include defendants' extralegal needs, which may introduce biases into decision-making processes. It underscores the need for more comprehensive data collection on defendants' backgrounds and preventive needs to enhance decision-making and reduce racial disparities. Future research should investigate the long-term impacts of remote hearings and include observations in a post-COVID-19 context to identify procedural changes.
Recommended Citation
Ahmadirouzbahani, Diba, "Judicial Reasonings & Decision-Making:
An Observational Study of Judges and Court Actors in Post-Criminal Justice Reform Detention Hearings in New Jersey during COVID-19" (2025). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/6152
