Social Sciences Project Abstract
AN ANALYSIS OF THE PRELIMINARY HEARINGS UNIT AND RAP PROGRAM IN THE COOK COUNTY STATE'S ATTORNEY'S OFFICE, NARCOTICS PROSECUTIONS BUREAU
Presenter:
Grace Wang, Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, 1500 West Sullivan Road, Aurora, IL 60506; gwang@imsa.edu
Mentor:
Anna Demacopoulos, Cook County State's Attorney's Office, Narcotics Prosecutions Bureau, 2650 South California, Chicago, IL 60608
Abstract:
The Rehabilitative Alternative Probation Program (RAP) targets first time, non-violent narcotics laws offenders who have violated their probation. Judge Lawrence Fox (the current RAP court judge) offers an intensive drug treatment education program as an alternative to sentencing. If the defendants fulfill all the program’s requirements, the charges of the case will be dismissed on the next court date. Each day, in the Preliminary Hearings (PH) Unit, the numbers of cases that are narcotics-related, found with probable cause, found with no probable cause, found with no probable cause but indicted, dismissed, and nolled are also recorded. My research includes sitting in on all the different types of court calls and participating in the data collecting system in addition to helping the Assistant State’s Attorneys prepare their paperwork. Through my own research and calculations, I have put together the average dismissal rates and prosecution rates in PH as far as the data would allow me to go at the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office monthly from January 1998 to March 2002.