Negotiated plea agreements in cases of serious and complex fraud in England and Wales: a new conceptualisation of plea bargaining?

Alge, Daniele ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9104-4660 (2013) Negotiated plea agreements in cases of serious and complex fraud in England and Wales: a new conceptualisation of plea bargaining? European Journal of Current Legal Issues, 19 (1). ISSN 2059-0881

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Abstract

This article examines negotiated plea agreements introduced by the Attorney General in 2009 for cases of serious or complex fraud, and the degree to which these differ from plea agreements reached through informal plea bargaining in other types of criminal case. It first considers whether the formally negotiated agreements are a result of coercion being brought to bear on defendants, or of defendants ‘playing the system’ (the two most common criticisms of ordinary plea bargains). It is then argued that an alternative conceptualisation may be more appropriate in serious fraud cases. To this end, approaches to plea bargaining more commonly applied in the United States (consensual, concessions, and contractual models) are considered in light of the current context. It is submitted that whilst these approaches have only limited application to defendants in ordinary criminal cases, they may help explain the dynamic of plea agreements in serious fraud cases. This in turn provides a basis upon which to assess the fairness of negotiated pleas in serious fraud cases, and highlights issues which lie at the core of the plea bargaining debate.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: Originally published in European Journal of Current Legal Issues: http://webjcli.org/article/view/203
Keywords: Serious fraud; serious fraud office; plea bargaining
Subjects: Law and criminal justice > Criminal justice
Law and criminal justice > Law
Depositing User: Daniele Alge
Date Deposited: 06 Jun 2016 09:33
Last Modified: 04 Nov 2024 12:17
URI: https://repository.uwl.ac.uk/id/eprint/2364

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