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"Private Plea Bargains"

By Douglas A. Berman

The title of this post is the title of this great forthcoming piece from my Ohio State colleague Ric Simmons, which is now available via SSRN.  Here is the abstract: This article analyzes the phenomenon of private criminal settlements; that is, settlements in which the victim or witness agrees not to report the perpetrator to the police in exchange for some consideration on the part of the perpetrator.  The article first examines why these settlements occur and then determines whether or not they should be permitted, and if so, under what circumstances. There are two different paradigms that can be used in analyzing private criminal settlements. The first paradigm, which has been used by scholars who have previously considered this issue, has been to treat these settlements as a form of blackmail...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on August 04, 2010 (boomark / email).