Terrorists Go to Trial More Often, Don't Plea Bargain

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Terrorists are more than twice as likely to go to trial as alleged non-terrorist criminals when indicted for the same offense, a University of Arkansas doctoral student found. His research paper won the Justice Research and Statistics Association's (JRSA) first Student Presentation Contest.

Chris Shields will present his paper, "Their Day in Court: Assessing Plea Bargain Rates Among Terrorists," at the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS)/JRSA 2004 National Conference in Seattle, Wash., on Oct. 28t and 29t.

"I thought it was a solid paper, because I had some great data to work with in the terrorism database," Shields said.

The database is the result of the American Terrorism Study, directed by UA sociologist Brent Smith and Kelly Damphousse, of the University of Oklahoma. The project involves the analysis of federal criminal cases resulting from indictments under the FBI's Counterterrorism Program.  The study was originally funded by the National Institute of Justice and is currently funded by the Oklahoma City National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism.

Shields used the database in his research. He ran statistical analysis on the data and studied scholarly literature published on the subject.

When compared to the typical plea agreement, trials are expensive and time consuming, Shields pointed out.

He thinks the difference in plea bargain rates may involve two factors.

"One argument is that in cases where defendants are identified as being members of a terrorist group, there's not as much flex in the criminal justice system as there would be for defendants who are not politically motivated," Shields said. "The prosecutors are less likely to give deals, and there are fewer plea agreements."

Another possibility is that terrorist defendants want their day in court, he said, because they simply don't recognize the legitimacy of the federal government or U.S. law.

Shields is a research associate working for Smith. He is a graduate of the UA Law School and recently started his doctoral studies in public policy. His research was the first step towards his dissertation subject.