SAO Uses Statewide Sentence Data to Make Plea Offers More Equitable (2022)

Office of the Florida State Attorney, 8th Judicial District (Gainesville, FL)

The SAO8th has partnered with Technologies for Justice to harness sentencing data from the Florida Department of Corrections in order to provide prosecutors with information about average sentences imposed for similarly situated offenders.      

Population: 415,000 | Number of Full-Time Prosecutors: 45 | Contact Information

Access to this data is given to prosecutors prior to making a plea offer, reducing unsubstantiated deviations.  By using a neutral starting point and sharing it with defense counsel, it is hoped that disparities based on unexamined or intentional bias will be reduced in favor of more equitable plea bargains.