Bargaining In The Criminal Justice Systems Of The United States And Germany

The book compares the bargaining practice in the United States and Germany, it displays differences and similarities, also taking historical as well as legal and cultural aspects into consideration. The author shows that bargaining in both countries is highly influenced by the respective legal systems - common and civil law. The study also pays attention to current developments, changes and proposed legislation.

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.

A comparative and collaborative study of the foundational principles and concepts that underpin different domestic systems of criminal law.

Traditions of plea bargaining : the United States -- Informal bargaining : Germany -- Introducing plea bargaining as part of comprehensive legal reform : Russia and Bulgaria -- Alternatives to plea bargaining : China and Japan -- Plea bargaining at international criminal courts

This research examines the role of prosecutors within the United States and in Switzerland and is completed by an overview of the prosecution institutions in France and Germany. The research recognizes that despite seemingly very different legal traditions and structures, prosecutors in these systems are similar enough that each system might learn from the others. Drawing upon the experiences of other nations, this research proposes solutions to the problems identified in connection with the position and powers of public prosecutors in the United States. Furthermore, it outlines the problems related to the increase of prosecutorial power and the lessons the European criminal justice systems surveyed can draw from the experience in the US. In terms of methodology, this research not only considers formal legal provisions but also systematic structural factors, academic literature and statistics revealing how the law and governing principles actually work in practice.

The Oxford Handbook of Criminal Process surveys the topics and issues in the field of criminal process, including the laws, institutions, and practices of the criminal justice administration. The process begins with arrests or with crime investigation such as searches for evidence. It continues through trial or some alternative form of adjudication such as plea bargaining that may lead to conviction and punishment, and it includes post-conviction events such as appeals and various procedures for addressing miscarriages of justice. Across more than 40 chapters, this Handbook provides a descriptive overview of the subject sufficient to serve as a durable reference source, and more importantly to offer contemporary critical or analytical perspectives on those subjects by leading scholars in the field. Topics covered include history, procedure, investigation, prosecution, evidence, adjudication, and appeal.

'International Criminal Procedure, edited by two insiders to international criminal proceedings, Professor Linda Carter and Professor Fausto Pocar, a judge at the ICTY and a former President of this Tribunal, is a coherently organized, well-researched, very informative and not the least elegantly-written contribution to a young and rapidly developing legal sub-discipline. The book provides its reader with a highly accessible and up-to date introduction into key elements of international criminal procedure as well as with critical commentary and rich inspiration for improvements of current practices.' – Claus Kreß LL.M. (Cantab.), University of Cologne, Germany and Institute for International Peace and Security Law 'This book addresses compelling issues that have come before international criminal tribunals. They include the self-representation of accused persons, plea bargaining and victim participation. It usefully approaches all of the issues and problems from a comparative law perspective. This excellent and accessible work is essential reading for practitioners, faculty and students of international criminal law.' – Richard Goldstone, Retired Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa and for Chief Prosecutor of the United Nations International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda The emergence of international criminal courts, beginning with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and including the International Criminal Court, has also brought an evolving international criminal procedure. In this book, the authors examine selected issues that reflect a blending of, or choice between, civil law and common law models of procedure. The issues include background on civil law and common law legal systems; plea bargaining; witness proofing; written and oral evidence; self-representation and the use of assigned, standby, and amicus counsel; the role of victims; and the right to appeal. International Criminal Procedure will appeal to academics, students, researchers, lawyers and judges working in the field of international criminal law.

In an era marked by processes of economic, political and legal integration that are arguably unprecedented in their range and impact, the translation of law has assumed a significance which it would be hard to overstate. The following situations are typical. A French law school is teaching French law in the English language to foreign exchange students. Some US legal scholars are exploring the possibility of developing a generic or transnational constitutional law. German judges are referring to foreign law in a criminal case involving an honour killing committed in Germany with a view to ascertaining the relevance of religious prescriptions. European lawyers are actively working on the creation of a common private law to be translated into the 24 official languages of the European Union. Since 2004, the World Bank has been issuing reports ranking the attractiveness of different legal cultures for doing business. All these examples raise in one way or the other the matter of translation from a comparative legal perspective. However, in today’s globalised world where the need to communicate beyond borders arises constantly in different guises, many comparatists continue not to address the issue of translation. This edited collection of essays brings together leading scholars from various cultural and disciplinary backgrounds who draw on fields such as translation studies, linguistics, literary theory, history, philosophy or sociology with a view to promoting a heightened understanding of the complex translational implications pertaining to comparative law, understood both in its literal and metaphorical senses.