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

Abstract

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 dispositions. Possible reasons for this pattern are discussed.

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