Introduction to Criminal Procedure
Negotiation process of offences under law is referred to as criminal procedure. This method contains rules and regulations which can be enforced by the government on people who are conducting any crime (Coffey and Gersten, 2011). This process starts with formal criminal charge and further leads to conviction of the defending party. The plea bargaining, fact bargaining and charge bargaining are methods which reduce the punishment of the parties involved in criminal procedure. Prosecutors and defendants are the two parties involved in criminal procedure. The plea bargaining is an agreement between both the parties in which prosecutor reduces the punishment of the criminal offences committed by the defendant (Plea Bargaining, 2014). Moreover, in case of fact bargaining, the essential facts regarding the case are not disclosed by the legal representative. Thus it reduces the penalty of criminal to minimum. However, in case of charge bargaining, the criminal requests the prosecutor to dismiss the larger amount caused at the time of trial (Boduszek and et.al., 2012).
The present report includes different bargaining types and extent to which each is permissible in England and Wales. These include plea, fact and charge bargaining. Moreover, the study also includes impact of these key principles on the criminal justice system.
2. Difference between plea-bargaining, fact-bargaining and charge-bargaining and extent to which each is permissible in England and Wales
The following are the differences between plea bargaining, fact bargaining and charge bargaining and the degree to which they are acceptable in England and Wales.
Plea bargaining: It is an agreement between the parties such as prosecutor and defendant. The prosecutor is the chief legal representative. He is responsible to present the case in criminal trial against the person who has committed crime by breaking the law (Roatsey, 2012). Defendant is one who is charged of conducting any crime and thus is punishable under the criminal law. These criminal defendants are put into the custody of police and can get post bail. But in serious cases such as murder, this bail is not acceptable (Spears and et.al., 2011). In plea bargaining, the defendant agrees to pay certain amount against criminal offence conducted to prosecutor. Through this, the defendant can avoid the risk regarding serious charge under criminal law. Major advantage of plea bargain is that it results in neglecting the lengthy procedure of criminal trial (Habibullah and Baharom, 2009). For instance, in case if defendant has committed any serious crime then the person can be imprisoned in state prison. But with the help of plea bargaining an opportunity is provided to defendant to pay misdemeanors theft charges. This may include monetary charges and bargaining to reduce severe punishments caused as the conviction under the criminal procedure (Balsamo, 2006). Thus it will not include the jail time. Plea bargaining is widely used in criminal justice system but it is not praised. It softens the impact of severe punishment on defendant. This is so because under this the person who has committed offence can bargain for lesser punishment. Plea bargaining is also termed as pre trial settlement, plea negotiations, mutually satisfactory dispositions, resolution discussion etc (Boduszek and et.a
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