Plea Bargaining



Plea Bargaining

Introduction

Plea bargaining - in the criminal process the United States and certain other countries, an agreement between the prosecution and the defense (the accused), whereby in exchange for a guilty plea last of the prosecution is obliged to retrain the charges to a "soft" article of criminal law (Bibas, 2004). In this case, the case is not tried by a jury, and a single judge. In other countries, this practice is widespread, although it contradicts the principles of domestic criminal justice system

Issues with Plea Bargaining

Plea bargaining on the other hand avoids the trial with all its procedural safeguards and thus could give the impression that the Court prefers quick case disposals by negotiating with perpetrators rather than fulfilling its mandate. Moreover, if the ICC uses principles of complementarity4 and insists on investigating cases by claiming that the national state is unable or unwilling to prosecute, any case disposed of without a trial by plea bargaining could severely damage the Court's claim of admissibility.

The second problem with plea bargaining is that it might have implications for the legitimacy of the court itself. Unlike national criminal courts, each of the international criminal courts and tribunals has been subjected to attacks on their legitimacy. From Nuremberg to Arusha claims of victors' justice were heard at every tribunal (Alschuler, 1983). The Courts, that even has potential jurisdiction over nationals of non-member states, is facing the same allegations. As a court that is not an organ of the United Nations and that can count only two permanent members of the Security Council among its member states, the Courts still has to prove their legitimacy. Therefore it needs to demonstrate that it is able to provide justice through fair trials, whose correctness is beyond doubt (Fisher, 2003).

A third disadvantage of plea bargaining is from the defendant's standpoint is that this practice results in different treatment of offenders who have committed comparable crimes. Those defendants who can offer cooperation, especially valuable information against other defendants, can benefit from concessions that offender's of similar crimes cannot. Thus similar crimes might be sentenced unequally (Alschuler, 1983).

Does it Plea Bargaining undermine the system of law?

Yes it does. It weakens the system of law by giving an edge to the offenders to fleet. The courts should not provide plea to the offenders. The case must be properly executed and the offender must be sent on trial if he/she it guilty on their side. The plea bargaining process is quite routinized, based upon the shared goals of the defender and the prosecutors and the shared conceptions of normal crimes. Typically, the defender and the prosecutor will meet informally to discuss the plea bargain, but in normal situations, this is very brief. The prosecutor and defender are thus a kind of team, working backstage to coordinate their actions in an efficient manner with the front-stage appearance of justice served (Bibas, 2004).

The Incentives behind Plea Bargaining For Judges, Prosecutors and Defendants

To understand the everyday meanings of the penal code, Sudnow analyzes the practices of the public defender's office. In his county of analysis, over 80 percent of cases are pled out, whereby defenders settled the case by pleading ...