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Full-Text Articles in Law
Limits On The Search For Truth In Criminal Procedure: A Comparative View, Jenia I. Turner
Limits On The Search For Truth In Criminal Procedure: A Comparative View, Jenia I. Turner
Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters
Across diverse legal traditions, the search for truth is a basic function of the criminal process. Uncovering the truth about the charged crime is regarded as an essential precondition to achieving justice, enforcing criminal law, and legitimating the verdict. Yet while truthseeking is a broadly accepted goal in the criminal process, no system seeks the truth at all costs. The search for truth must on occasion yield to considerations related to efficiency, democratic participation, and protection of individual rights.
Different jurisdictions around the world show different preferences with respect to the tradeoffs between these values and the search for truth …
The Constitutionality Of Negotiated Criminal Judgments In Germany, Thomas Weigend, Jenia I. Turner
The Constitutionality Of Negotiated Criminal Judgments In Germany, Thomas Weigend, Jenia I. Turner
Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters
In a long-awaited judgment, the German Constitutional Court in 2013 upheld the constitutionality of the 2009 German law authorizing the negotiation of criminal judgments between the court and the parties. In this Article, we provide background on recent developments in “plea bargaining” law and practice in Germany and offer a critique of the Court’s decision.
The Court attempted to rein in negotiated judgments by giving the statute a literal reading, emphasizing the limitations it places on negotiations, and strictly prohibiting any consensual disposition outside the statutory framework. The Court builds its judgment on the notion that the search for truth, …