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3 - Implicit (and Explicit) Plea Bargaining

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 December 2022

Kevin Cheng
Kevin Cheng
Affiliation:
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
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Summary

Chapters 1 and 2 looked at how the official discourse is based on tactical defendants ‘playing the system’ and the justification for sentence discounts corresponding to the timing of guilty pleas is utilitarian benefits to the criminal justice system. This chapter offers an alternative perspective. First it argues that sentence discount for guilty pleas is a form of implicit plea bargaining despite the avoidance to officially recognise the practice of plea bargaining in different jurisdictions. Moreover, operating in tandem with advanced sentence indications and other stages of the criminal process, sentence discounts for guilty pleas arguably serve as pressure for defendants to plead guilty.

Keywords

plea bargainingplea negotiationsadvanced sentence indicationspretrial costssentence discountdefence lawyers
Type
Chapter
Information
The Timing of Guilty Pleas
Lessons from Common Law Jurisdictions
 , pp. 47 - 68
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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