Cole (1970) discusses the many influences of the decision to prosecute. Several actors, such as, the police, defense attorneys, and the courts, influence the decision to prosecute or not. The author explains the pressures involved from the actors being prison overpopulation, increased fear from the public, the press questioning decisions, the lack of evidence collected by police officers, case completion time, and upholding their prosecutorial reputation. I found many of these pressures, as well as others, to be accurate because many cases do not end up going to trial as one judge involved in the study mentioned that an average of 70% ends in the preliminary hearing. I did not realize that some cases are held out for a specific judge in order to increase the likelihood of a conviction for certain types of cases. It's interesting to see political factors playing a role in this decision making process because drugs and gambling were often seen as petty crimes, but King County felt the pressure to implement criminal charges more after outside pressures came from local politicians. Additionally, reading the defense attorney aspect made me question if clients are constitutionally being represented. The author discusses how defense attorneys are often waiting outside courthouses to seek clientele and many are more concerned with their reputations in the legal field, thus they pressure their clients to take a plea. The influences from the police were what I would think to be correct, but I did not realize that prosecutors put pressure on police officers to do "better" as the author said. If they give prosecutors incomplete files, which are often times due to lack of evidence, the prosecutors have no choice but to dismiss the case and drop the charges. Overall, I did not realize all of the pressures prosecutors endure during their decisions to prosecute or not