Bureaucratic Due Process: An Ethnography of a Traffic Court

Abstract

This paper focuses on the routine operation of a traffic court. A number of processes in the setting help account for the outcome of defendants' cases. These include the way defendants glean cues from the social activity in prior cases on how to define and manage the situation, instances where the judge alternates from a judge role to a lawyer role providing legal advice, a judge's practice of controlling the process and outcome of cases to comply with his vested interests. This interest creates a concern for speed and efficiency in processing cases. The emphasis on efficiency in the traffic court is consistent with the philosophical model of crime control developed by Packer (1964).