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The Timing of Guilty Pleas: Lessons from Common Law Jurisdictions

The Timing of Guilty Pleas: Lessons from Common Law Jurisdictions

Name: The Timing of Guilty Pleas: Lessons from Common Law Jurisdictions
Brand: Cambridge University Press
SKU: 9781009158619
Price: 289.06 HKD
Availability: InStock
Author: Kevin Cheng
ISBN: 9781009158619

By Kevin Cheng

Cambridge University Press June 2025

Specifications

ISBN-13: 9781009158619
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Publication: June 2025
Format: Paperback
Jurisdiction: U.K. ? Countri(es) for reference only

Also available as

Hardback

Details

While guilty pleas are the primary mode of criminal case dispositions across different legal jurisdictions, this topic remains an understudied area. The assumption is that defendants are 'playing the system' and that a sliding scale of sentence discounts is necessary to encourage early guilty pleas, which offer utilitarian benefits of efficiency. These assumptions lack a solid empirical foundation. This book offers a comprehensive investigation of how the timing of guilty pleas affects various facets of the criminal process, from the factors that affect this timing, to the effects that the sliding scale of sentence discounts have on sentences and public opinions about them. It also draws comparisons between Western and Asian legal systems, specifically those of England and Wales and Hong Kong. This book is addressed to scholars, legal practitioners, policymakers and those interested in criminal justice, socio-legal studies and empirical legal research.

1. Introduction: the history of the problem of 'Cracked Trials'

2. The sliding scale of sentence discounts

3. Implicit (and explicit) plea bargaining

4. Revisiting the assumptions and methodology

5. Factors affecting the timing of guilty pleas

6. Trial and late-plea penalties

7. Consistency in applying sentence discounts

8. Public opinion and sentence discounts

9. Conclusion

Index

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