David W. Neubauer

Winners and losers: Dispositions of criminal appeals before the Louisiana supreme court

Trial court dispositions of criminal cases have been researched extensively, but little is known about the disposition of the relatively small number of criminal cases that are appealed. This article undertakes to fill this gap by analyzing patterns of winners and losers before the Louisiana Supreme Court. Reversals are hypothesized to be related to the conviction offense, the likelihood of trial court error, the potential for appellate court policy making, and the severity of the sentence. These hypotheses are tested on 625 criminal appeals decided by written opinion. Statistically significant patterns of winners and losers emerge. Appellants convicted of nonviolent offenses, in which a relatively light sentence was imposed, are the most likely to win on appeal. Conversely, appellants convicted of violent crimes and sentenced to a long prison term are the least likely to gain a reversal. Contrary to expectations, error correction and policy formulation functions prove to be unrelated to appellate court d...

Too Quick To Sue? Public Perceptions of the Litigation Explosion

Although there is considerable discussion among elites that Americans are too quick to sue, we have limited empirical evidence of what the general public thinks. To fill this gap, a statewide poll of Louisiana voters asked whether people are too quick to hire a lawyer and go to court. Two out of three responded that Americans were indeed too quick to sue. This article examines whether social characteristics, previous litigation experience, and political attitudes are related to these responses. The results indicate that race of the respondent is the dominant explanatory variable. Whites overwhelmingly agreed that “people are too quick to hire a lawyer and go to court, “whereas blacks overwhelmingly agreed “anyone should be able to use the legal system to their advantage.” In short, those with status appear quick to blame those with low status for filing too many lawsuits.