Video

The Anatomy of Discretion (Podcast 4 of 4) Interview with Anthony C. Thompson

This is the last in a four-part series discussing findings from The Anatomy of Discretion, a Vera Institute study of factors that influence prosecutors’ decisions in criminal cases. In this part, Professor Anthony C. Thompson discusses the balance between strength of evidence and other considerations. Thompson is Professor of Clinical Law at New York University, has supervised a prosecution clinic in which students maintain real case loads, and is the author of It Takes a Community to Prosecute. In other podcasts in this series, one of the study’s authors summarizes its main findings; a prosecutor discusses the effects of resource constraints; and a federal judge discusses the balance between individualized treatment of defendants and consistency in decision making across similar cases.