Author ORCID Identifier
0000-0002-9422-232X
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2006
Keywords
California, Prosecutorial discretion, Statutory Rape Vertical Prosecution Program, Structural factors, Intimacy, Peer, Predator, Statutory rape, Relationship status, Exploitation, Instrumental filing
Abstract
This Article proceeds as follows. It begins in Part I by presenting the structural and case-based factors that scholars have identified as relevant to prosecutorial decision-making in the United States. Part II considers the existing social science research documenting the relationship between intimacy and criminal Justice treatment. Part III explains the empirical study of California prosecutors on which this Article's data and conclusions are based. After introducing California's statutory rape prosecution program in Part IV, the Article describes in Part V how the program's underlying rationale led to the development and deployment of prosecutorial assessments of intimacy and exploitation in the statutory rape caseload. Part VI describes prosecutorial motivations behind the intimacy discount, while Part VII concludes by reflecting on the implications of the intimacy discount, both for the populations it affects and for the longevity of a controversial criminal law.
First Page
691
Publication Title
Emory Law Journal
Recommended Citation
Kay L. Levine, The Intimacy Discount: Prosecutorial Discretion, Privacy, and Equality in the Statutory Rape Caseload, 55 EMORY L.J. 691 (2006).
Included in
Criminal Law Commons, Law and Gender Commons, Law and Society Commons, Models and Methods Commons