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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 …