This book explores victims’ views of plea negotiations and the level of input that they desire. It draws on the empirical findings of the first in-depth study of victims and plea negotiations conducted in Australia. Over the last 50 years, the criminal justice system has seen major changes in both the role that victims play in the justice process and in how the vast majority of criminal cases are finalised. Guilty pleas have become the norm, and many of these result from negotiations between the prosecutor and the defence. The extent to which the victim is one of the participating parties in plea negotiations however, is a question of law and of practice. Drawing from focus groups and surveys with victims of crime, Victims and Plea Negotiations seeks to privilege victims’ voices and lived experiences of plea negotiations, to present their perspectives on five options for enhanced participation in this legal process. This book appeals to academics and students in the areas of law, criminology, sociology, victimology and legal studies, those who practice in the criminal justice system generally, those who work with victims, and policy makers.

Bringing together established and emerging scholars from around the world, the Research Handbook on Plea Bargaining and Criminal Justice examines the practice of plea bargaining, through which guilty pleas are secured and trials are avoided.

The criminal justice system is a key social institution pertinent to the lives of citizens everywhere. Fundamentals of Criminal Justice: A Sociological View, Second Edition provides a unique social context to explore and explain the nature, impact, and significance of the criminal justice system in everyday life. This introductory text examines important sociological issues including class, race, and gender inequality, social control, and organizational structure and function.

Despite a popular view that trials are the focal point of the criminal justice process, in reality, the most frequent way a criminal matter resolves is not through a fiercely fought battle between state and defendant, but instead through a process of negotiation between the prosecution and defence, resulting in a defendant pleading guilty in exchange for agreed concessions from the prosecution. This book presents an original empirical case-study of plea negotiations drawing upon interviews with legal actors and an analysis of defence practitioner case files, to shine light on the processes and ways in which an agreed outcome is reached in criminal prosecutions, within the setting of a jurisdiction, like many others world-wide, which is suffering major shifts in state resources. Plea negotiations, also referred to as “plea bargaining”, “negotiated guilty pleas” and “negotiated resolutions” are neither an alloyed benefit nor a detriment for defendants, victims or the criminal justice system generally, and like all compromises, this book shows how the perfect “justice” outcome gives way to the good, or just the reasonably acceptable justice outcome.

A critical examination of the dramatic changes in criminal justice over the last two decades and the first full-length study of the law and politics of criminal justice in the era of the Charter and victims? rights.

The book sets out in-depth studies of consensual case dispositions in the UK, examining how plea bargaining has developed and spread in England and Wales. It also goes on to discusses in detail the problems that this practise poses for the rule of law by avoiding procedural safe-guards. The book draws on empirical research in its examination of the absence of informal settlements in the former GDR, offering a unique insight into criminal procedure in a socialist legal system that has been little studied.

In 1982, California voters passed Proposition 8, promoted by supporters as the Victims' Bill of Rights, on the initiative ballot. In Politics and Plea Bargaining, Candace McCoy describes the political genesis of victims' rights legislation and the impact Proposition 8 has had on plea bargaining. Placing Proposition 8 in the context of earlier efforts to reform plea bargaining, McCoy explores the meaning of due process in the criminal courts. Emphasizing the concept of "publicness," the book suggests changes that would open the justice system to more public observation and explanation.

This handbook is an answer to the need for a text which incorporates factual, analytical and practical aspects of the topic to provide a comprehensive basis for understanding and assisting victims of sexual abuse. Its coverage includes information on the extent of the problem of sexual offences in Singapore, and on the relevant legal institutional provisions (Part I); analysis of the causes of sexual violence and the social and psychological effects of sexual assault (Part II); guidelines on how to help victims of sexual violence (Parts III and IV); and finally some suggestions on how existing services might be improved (Part V).