Review article
https://doi.org/10.3935/zpfz.71.2.05
Plea Agreements in Procedures Before International Criminal Courts
Matko Pajčić
orcid.org/0000-0003-0657-1245
; Faculty of Law, University of Split, Split, Croatia
Marin Bonačić
orcid.org/0000-0001-9951-0921
; Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
Plea agreements between prosecutors and defendants, under which a defendant pleads guilty in exchange for a concession by the prosecutor, originated in the legal systems of the Anglo-American legal tradition. Although not originally envisaged, these agreements have also appeared before international and international criminal courts. This happened for the first time in the proceedings before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia at a time when the court was burdened with a large number of cases on the one hand, and pressure on the other to speed up its proceedings and complete its work. In further development, two basic models crystallized: agreements under the influence of the Anglo-American legal tradition and agreements under the greater influence of the continental legal tradition. The paper discusses the basic features of these two models and their similarities and differences. In addition, the compatibility of the agreement with the objectives of international criminal justice is being considered.
Keywords
plea agreement; plea bargaining; charge bargaining; sentence bargaining; international criminal justice
Hrčak ID:
259357
URI
Publication date:
21.6.2021.
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