Credible plea bargaining

This paper demonstrates that the role of plea bargaining as a screening device depends neither on the commitment to trial nor on the commitment to some prosecutorial expenditures. In a situation where a prosecutor cannot commit to trial nor spends resources to obtain more evidence, I find a semi-separating equilibrium in which the prosecutor makes an offer that can be accepted only by the guilty defendant with some positive probability, and then, if the offer is rejected, he proceeds to trial, based on his updated belief. I also consider the prosecutor’s decision to choose the amount of (per capita) prosecutorial expenditures both in the commitment case and in the noncommitment case, and argue that an increase in the per capita expenditure may reduce the gross expenditures on prosecution by lowering the chance of trial.     

A historical sketch of plea bargaining

Plea bargaining is one of the most emotional and controversial topics in the field of criminal justice. Not only is it defined and documented poorly, its origins also are much disputed. Pro-plea bargainers like to trace plea bargaining to Cain and Abel's classic struggle. Anti-plea bargainers cite the post-American Civil War era as the beginning point for plea negotiation. The truth lies somewhere in between. This paper investigates primary and secondary sources from the fifteenth through the eighteenth centuries in an effort to pin down the specific initiation of plea bargaining and its antecedents. This work demonstrates that prejudice has distorted the study of plea bargaining's origin and encourages further research in this area.     

On the theoretical basis for plea bargaining system

Before discussing the introduction of the plea bargaining system to China’s criminal justice system, it is necessary to study its theoretical basis. Among which, the following aspects should be focused on: the philosophical viewpoint of pragmatism is its thinking basis; the concept of contract is its cultural basis; the structure form of adversary procedure is its systematic basis; and the system of right to silence and discovery of evidence are its symbiotic basis. __________ Translated from Tribune of Political Science and Law, 2002, (6) (in Chinese)     

Bounding reasonable doubt: implications for plea bargaining

A bound for reasonable doubt is offered based on the cost of type I and type II errors. The bound increases with the punishment, hence its use as a conviction threshold may leave too many offenders of severe crimes at large. Plea bargaining addresses this limitation but introduces strategic interaction between concerned parties. Considering strategic interaction between defendants and judge/jury, it is shown that to any plea offer there corresponds a unique equilibrium. Moreover, all equilibria share the same conviction threshold, given by the reasonable doubt bound. The latter property ensures that the plea bargaining procedure is consistent with the ‘equality before the law’ principle. The former property (that to any plea offer there corresponds a unique equilibrium) bears implications for the design of plea bargain schemes.     

Incentives, criminal defence lawyers and plea bargaining

Plea bargaining has become a central feature of criminal procedure in Anglo-Saxon jurisdictions. This paper explores an area seldom discussed in the economic literature on plea bargaining: the influence of the defence lawyer's fee contract on the terms of the bargain. In particular, it uses data from one jurisdiction of the impact on case trajectories of changes in publicly funded defence lawyers’ contracts to test the proposition that the nature of the lawyer's contract influences how cases are managed. An event study methodology on a pooled time-series cross-section data set of case trajectories before and after the change in the nature of the contract is used to examine whether the new payment regime significantly changed the trajectories of cases through the summary criminal justice system. Overall the results seem to suggest that the behaviour of defence lawyers may be influenced by financial incentives. This implies that the terms of plea bargains reached between prosecution and defence lawyers may be affected by the defence lawyer's remuneration contract. Consequently, the authors conclude that the role of defence lawyers has been under-researched in the literature on the economics of plea bargaining.     

In defense of criminal defense expenditures and plea bargaining

Given the continuing controversy over defendants' buying justice through defense expenditures, this paper shows that disparities in criminal defense expenditures can insure that it is the guilty and not the innocent who will be punished. Our model allows defense and prosecution expenditures to be simultaneously determined. We show that criminal defense expenditures result in lower expected penalties for the innocent at trial and that they helo ensure that plea bargaining efficiently screens defendants even when differential risk aversion is present. Finally, we examine how differences in defendant's wealth and the use of public defenders affect the legal system's ability to differentiate the innocent from the guilty.     

论票据抗辩中的欠缺行为能力抗辩

依现有票据抗辩理论,欠缺行为能力的抗辩被视为对物抗辩的一种类型,属于不受限制的抗辩。本文认为,不论是从民法理论的角度,还是从票据法理论的角度来看,欠缺行为能力的抗辩都应是一种可限制的抗辩。在此基础上,本文着重讨论了限制的具体情形及效力问题。     

Dis-epistemologies of Abolition

There are various critiques laid out against the framework of carceral abolition (as it appears currently in prison abolition and deinstitutionalization): that it is abstract, only critiques but does not suggest specific solutions; that it is a utopian vision of the world; and that it is unrealistic in the world we currently occupy. Throughout this article I will demonstrate how such critiques can be conceptualized as strengths of these movements and frameworks for liberation. I argue that carceral abolition (as it appears in prison abolition and deinstitutionalization) is a form of knowledge, an ethical position. My first claim is that this knowledge is rooted in maroonage and I show the consequences of not engaging with abolition from intersectional frameworks. My second claim is that we can understand abolition as a dis-epistemology that rejects ways of knowing tied to certainty, optimism and certain notions of futurity and temporality.     

试论冲突中的集体谈判

在社会转型、经济转轨的特殊时期,我国各地相继出现了不同程度、不同方式的用人单位与劳动者之间的冲突。本文从集体谈判的视角探索了解决冲突的制度路径。即对集体谈判的内涵进行界定,分析我国推行集体谈判制度的现状及推行中遇到的各种约束性条件,对其社会安全阀的本质进行阐释,指出推行该项制度的重要性、紧迫性,在此基础上,提出改进的对策和建议。     

论我国拘役刑的废除

拘役刑作为我国刑罚的五种主刑之一,在我国1979年和1997年的刑法中均有规定,但其作为一种短期自由刑具有一定的缺陷,其存废之争也开始兴起。本文在简要介绍我国拘役刑的概况后,将具体分析废除我国拘役刑的理由,最后提出废除拘役刑后我国的刑罚体系的完善方案。     

国际公约废除死刑适用之我见

自1764年意大利刑法学家贝卡里亚倡导废除死刑200多年来,在对待公民生命权的态度上,国际社会已经不再单纯强调生命权的重要性与平等性,开始对于严重暴力犯罪的死刑适用问题逐渐加以限制,直至最终废除死刑的适用,这些理念充分体现了国际公约保障人权的基本精神。在这种精神的影响下,一些国家逐步废除了死刑。     

试论我国离婚经济补偿制度的存废

我国2001年修正后的《婚姻法》增设了离婚经济补偿制度,集中规定在第40条,学界对此大加肯认,有学者建议应该修改完善。经过分析与考证后发现,其实不然,应该删除第40条的规定,将离婚经济补偿制度的价值和功能交由完善后的我国夫妻共同财产制予以彰显和实现。     

经济犯罪废除死刑理由之评析

在我国,经济犯罪中废除死刑的呼声已成为压倒性的趋势,概括起来其理由主要有：不符合正义价值,不符合刑罚目的,不符合效益价值,不符合国际趋势,极个别的还认为会滋长监管者对死刑作用的迷信,忽略社会治安和社会管理的基础性工作,不利于健康、人道的社会文化和尊重人的生命的观念的形成,以及认为经济犯罪不具有道德基础,经济犯罪配置死刑是政治权力的任意之举。但是,在这些理由中,除了不符合国际趋势之外,其他理由都不能成为经济犯罪废除死刑的充分理由,换言之,这些理由与经济犯罪废除死刑的主张之间并不存在必然的因果关系。     

论未成年人犯罪前科应予消灭——一个社会学角度的分析

以社会学为视角,并结合刑法中前科及前科消灭理论进行分析,犯罪标签的存在和前科报告制度的影响,我国法律规定的未成年犯罪人的前科保护制度基本上不能消除前科对未成年犯罪人的不利影响,而这些不利影响的存在极可能导致未成年犯罪人刑罚执行完毕后之再社会化的失败,使其重新走上再犯之路,因而应明确消除未成年犯罪人的前科记录.     

Police participation in structured plea negotiations

This article examines the participation of police officers in structured felony plea negotiations. The data were collected during the testing of pretrial settlement conferences conducted in Dade County, Florida. The police officers were relatively active in the plea discussions, and their presence affected both the structure of the discussion and the relative influence of the various parties. The data also indicate that police participation and influence were affected by the presence of either the victim or the defendant.While the presence of the police did not affect the processing (settlement/trial rate) or the disposition (sentence severity, use of incarceration or restitution), the officers who attended the conference were more satisfied with both the court process and the disposition. This finding is significant in the light of the demoralizing effects of traditional plea negotiations on police attitudes and the spill over of these negative attitudes into the criminal justice system.     

Nash bargaining solutions for international climate agreements under different sets of bargaining weights

Bargaining is a tool to share collaborative gains and to facilitate reaching agreement. To improve incentives to join an international climate agreement (ICA), the Nash bargaining solution can be used to distribute cooperative gains across signatories. In this paper, we examine how the formation of ICAs and their mitigation efficiency are impacted by the use of the Nash bargaining solution. In a Nash bargaining game with heterogeneous players, bargaining powers are unequal and may be driven by different characteristics of the players. We employ different sets of asymmetric bargaining weights in order to examine the effectiveness of climate coalitions that emerge as stable agreements. Using the Nash bargaining solution, we obtain results from the stability of coalition model (STACO). We find that the Nash bargaining solution can improve the participation incentives and performances of ICAs as compared to agreements that do not redistribute gains from cooperation, but its capacity to overcome free-riding incentives is limited. However, if Nash bargaining accounts for outside options of players, we find larger stable coalitions and higher global abatement levels. In fact, Nash bargaining with outside options can stabilise the largest coalitions that can possibly be stable in our game.     

论前科消灭制度的正当性根据

前科消灭制度的存置具有深厚的理论根基与正当性根据。从人性的维度来考量,前科消灭制度是人性的可变性与发展性以及具体性与社会性相统一的必然要求;用哲理的眼光来审视,辩证唯物主义、唯物辩证法和历史唯物主义都为前科消灭制度的存置奠定了理论上的支撑;从法理的立场来观照,前科消灭制度乃是公正性与功利性的题中应有之义;以刑理的视角来省察,报应与预防亦为前科消灭制度的存置提供了证成的理由。