Book contents
- Measuring Justice
- Cambridge Studies in Law and Society
- Measuring Justice
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Legislation – Statutes
- Introduction
- I From Apartheid Administrators to Lawyers of the People: A History of Accountability inside the South African Prosecution Authority (1948–2018)
- 2 Ethnographic Research in a Multi-Local Organisation: Access, Challenges and Methods
- 3 ‘Stats Talk’ and Alternative Expressions of Accountability: NPA Lower Court Prosecutors at Work
- 4 No Fear of Numbers: Reactivity and the Political Economy of NPA Performance Measurement
- 5 At the Top of the NPA
- 6 Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics
- Concluding Remarks
- Bibliography
- Index
- Cambridge Studies in Law and Society
3 - ‘Stats Talk’ and Alternative Expressions of Accountability: NPA Lower Court Prosecutors at Work
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 June 2019
- Measuring Justice
- Cambridge Studies in Law and Society
- Measuring Justice
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Legislation – Statutes
- Introduction
- I From Apartheid Administrators to Lawyers of the People: A History of Accountability inside the South African Prosecution Authority (1948–2018)
- 2 Ethnographic Research in a Multi-Local Organisation: Access, Challenges and Methods
- 3 ‘Stats Talk’ and Alternative Expressions of Accountability: NPA Lower Court Prosecutors at Work
- 4 No Fear of Numbers: Reactivity and the Political Economy of NPA Performance Measurement
- 5 At the Top of the NPA
- 6 Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics
- Concluding Remarks
- Bibliography
- Index
- Cambridge Studies in Law and Society
Summary
Performance statistics, indicators, rates and targets were a common feature in the working world of most prosecutors who I observed and interviewed. During the hundreds of hours of ethnographic fieldwork conducted within the NPA between 2008 and 2012, they often discussed their work and their daily concerns in terms of NPA statistics or with regard to specific NPA performance rates and indicators, both with each other and with me. For example, lower court prosecutors would refer to cases which could be finalised quickly – namely cases where the offender pleaded guilty at first or second appearance or where the case would be mediated or diverted away from the criminal justice system – as ‘good for the stats’ or as ‘assisting them in achieving their target’ during these informal tea or lunch break conversations.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Measuring JusticeQuantitative Accountability and the National Prosecuting Authority in South Africa, pp. 73 - 91Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2019