Protecting the Defendant’s Rights in Negotiated Justice Mechanisms – A Comparative Perspective

Abstract

Abstract The article analyses the level of procedural protection of a defendant who engages in a discussion regarding the application of negotiated justice solutions in five countries: USA, Germany, France, Italy and Poland. In each of the analysed countries a form of negotiated justice exists, whether it is a classic version of plea bargaining in the USA or a mechanism inspired by plea bargaining but adjusted to continental or inquisitorial setting. These institutions have to provide certain level of protection of the defendant from the risk of making a misinformed or even coerced decision to enter an agreement, in order to assert true voluntariness of the defendant’s waiver of procedural rights. The aim of the paper is to review the procedural safeguards implemented for this purpose and critically assess their effectiveness.