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Plea Bargaining: Critical Issues And Common Practices, Us Department Of Justice, William F. Mcdonald

National Institute of Justice Office of Justice Programs

This analysis of critical issues in the plea bargaining controversy is based on data obtained in six jurisdictions including structured observations of 711 in-court acceptances of guilty pleas; structured interviews with a total of over 200 judges, prosecutors, defense counsel, defendants, and police officers; a plea bargaining decision simulation and quasi-experiment administered to 138 prosecutors and 105 defense attorneys; and a statistical analysis of case file data from 3,397 robbery and burglary cases. The findings suggest that plea bargaining cannot be abolished but can be changed. The policy choices are: how much of a concession should be given to defendants; …