Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 5 of 5
Full-Text Articles in Law
Introducing Plea Bargaining Into Post-Conflict Legal Systems, Cynthia Alkon, Ena Dion
Introducing Plea Bargaining Into Post-Conflict Legal Systems, Cynthia Alkon, Ena Dion
Cynthia Alkon
Criminal justice systems around the world face overwhelming caseloads and ever-increasing pressure to handle more. This pressure can be even more serious in post-conflict countries that face additional problems such as limited resources and fragile political environments. In overloaded criminal justice systems it may be difficult, if not impossible, to hold trials for every accused person in a timely way. As a result, countries are increasingly looking to alternative processes to handle criminal cases beyond traditional formal trials. Plea bargaining is frequently considered as a possible solution to problems of case backlogs, long periods of pretrial detention, and to help …
An Overlooked Key To Reversing Mass Incarceration: Reforming The Law To Reduce Prosecutorial Power In Plea Bargaining, Cynthia Alkon
An Overlooked Key To Reversing Mass Incarceration: Reforming The Law To Reduce Prosecutorial Power In Plea Bargaining, Cynthia Alkon
Cynthia Alkon
The need to “do something” about mass incarceration is now widely recognized. When President Obama announced plans to reform federal criminal legislation, he focused on the need to change how we handle non-violent drug offenders and parole violators. Previously, former Attorney General Eric Holder announced policies to make federal prosecutors “smart on crime.” These changes reflect, as President Obama noted, the increasing bipartisan consensus on the need for reform and the need to reduce our incarceration rates. However, proposals about what to reform, such as President Obama’s, tend to focus on some parts of criminal sentencing and on prosecutorial behavior …
Plea Bargain Negotiations: Defining Competence Beyond Lafler And Frye, Cynthia Alkon
Plea Bargain Negotiations: Defining Competence Beyond Lafler And Frye, Cynthia Alkon
Cynthia Alkon
In the companion cases of Lafler v. Cooper and Missouri v. Frye the U.S. Supreme Court held that there is a right to effective assistance of counsel during plea bargaining. However, the Court defined effective assistance of counsel in only one narrow phase of plea bargaining: the client counseling phase. The Court said it would not look more broadly at the negotiation process itself as "[b]argaining is, by its nature, defined to a substantial degree by personal style.” This statement indicates that the Court does not fully understanding developments in the field of negotiation over the last thirty years. Negotiation …
What's Law Got To Do With It? Plea Bargaining Reform After Lafler And Frye, Cynthia Alkon
What's Law Got To Do With It? Plea Bargaining Reform After Lafler And Frye, Cynthia Alkon
Cynthia Alkon
This symposium article responds to the question, what's left of the law in the wake of ADR? The article addresses this question in the context of the criminal justice system in the United States. As with civil cases, few criminal cases go to trial. Negotiated agreements through plea bargaining have been the predominate form of case resolution since at least the mid-twentieth century. Plea bargaining, as with other forms of alternative dispute resolution, is an informal process that operates largely outside the formal legal system. Plea bargains are rarely negotiated on the record in open court. Instead, they are usually …
Hard Bargaining In Plea Bargaining: When Do Prosecutors Cross The Line?, Cynthia Alkon
Hard Bargaining In Plea Bargaining: When Do Prosecutors Cross The Line?, Cynthia Alkon
Cynthia Alkon
Well over 90 percent of all criminal cases in the United States are resolved by plea bargaining and not by trial. This means that how plea bargaining works impacts nearly every criminal defendant. However, there are few restrictions to protect defendants in the negotiating process. One serious problem is that prosecutors regularly use hard bargaining tactics such as exploding offers, threats to add enhancements, take-it-or-leave-it offers, and threats to seek the death penalty. These hard bargaining tactics contribute to the often highly coercive atmosphere of plea bargaining that can lead innocent defendants to plead guilty. Pressure to plead guilty can …