JUDGMENT BASED ON AGREEMENT OF THE PARTIES IN CROATIAN LAW
A CRITICAL ANALYSIS FROM THE COMPARATIVE LEGAL PERSPECTIVE
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25234/pv/13429Keywords:
judgment based on agreement of the parties, consensual justice, consensual procedures, plea bargaining, criminal procedure, judicial controlAbstract
This paper considers judgments based on agreement of the parties in Croatian law, more precisely particular aspects of this consensual form which previous studies have assessed to be potentially problematic. These aspects include the objectives of reaching agreement, the gravity of criminal offences subject to agreement, the role of the court, and the legal position of the defence and that of the victim. These aspects are analysed primarily from a comparative-law perspective, since the Croatian version of plea bargaining, just like specific models adopted in some other European countries, was inspired by the same American model. Besides American law, the research includes Italian, French, Swiss, German and Austrian law. The goal of the comparative research is to find out whether the Croatian model contains some specific features which perhaps differ from positive comparative European legal solutions, but also result in theoretical and practical problems. The study will also include analysis of the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia concerning primarily the issue of judicial control over the agreement of the parties, which has been most disputed in domestic literature and in judicial practice.
References
Albonetti, C. A., Prosecutorial Discretion: The Effects of Uncertainty, Law & Society Review, Vol. 21, No. 2, 1987, pp. 291-314.
Alschluer, A. W., The Prosecutor’s Role in Plea Bargaining, The University of Chicago Law Review, Vol. 36, No. 1, 1968, pp. 50-112.
Alschuler, A. W., Plea Bargaining and Its History, Law & Society Review, Vol. 13, No. 2, 1979, pp. 211-245.
Berdejó, C., Criminalizing Race: Racial Disparities in Plea Bargaining, Boston College Law Review, Vol. 59, No. 4, 2018, pp. 1187-1249.
Beulke, W., Strafprozessrecht, C.F. Müller Verlag, Heidelberg, 2010.
Bibas, S., Plea Bargaining outside the Shadow of Trial, Harvard Law Review, Vol. 117, No. 8, 2004, pp. 2464-2547.
Böckemühl, Kier, Verständigungen in Strafverfahren – Ein Plädoyer gegen die Kodifizierung einer "StPO light" in Österreich, Anwaltsblatt 2010.
Code de procédure pénale suisse, Commentaire Romand (Jeanneret, Y. ; Kuhn, A. ; Perrier Depeursinge, C. eds.), Helbing Lichtenhahn, 2019.
Damaška, M., O nekim učincima stranački oblikovanog pripremnog kaznenog postupka, Hrvatski ljetopis za kazneno pravo i praksu, Vol. 14, No. 1, 2007, pp. 3-14.
Donatsch, Vereinbarungen im Strafprozess, in: Festschrift zum 50jährigen Bestehen der Schweizerischen Kriminalistischen Gesellschaft, Bern, 1992, pp. 159 – 177.
Fischer, G., Plea Bargaining's Triumph, The Yale Law Journal, Vol. 109, 2000, pp. 857-1086.
Hamdan, S., Absprachen im französischen Strafverfahren?, Nomos, 2018.
Hauser, Schweri, Schweizerisches Strafprozessrecht, Basel/Frankfurt, 1999.
Herrman, J., Bargaining Justice - A Bargain for German Criminal Justice?, University of Pittsburgh Law Review, vol. 53, no. 3, 1992, pp. 755-776.
Hettinger, M., Die Absprache im Strafverfahren als rechtsstaatliches Problem, JuristenZeitung, Vol. 66, No. 6, 2011, pp. 292-301.
Iontcheva Turner, J., Judicial Participation in Plea Negotiations: A Comparative View, American Journal of Comparative Law, Vol. 54, No. 1, 2006, pp. 199-267.
Ivičević Karas, E., Consensual Justice in Croatian Criminal Procedural Law: the Need for a Systematic Approach, in „EU 2020 – Lessons from the Past and Solutions for the Future, EU and Comparative Law Issues and Challenges Series (ECLIC) – ISSUE 4, University of Josip Juraj Strossmayer Faculty of Law, Osijek, 2020, pp. 405 – 432.
Ivičević Karas, E., Puljić, D., Presuda na temelju sporazuma stranaka u hrvatskom kaznenom procesnom pravu i praksi Županijskog suda u Zagrebu, Hrvatski ljetopis za kazneno pravo i praksu, Vol. 20, No. 2, 2013, pp. 823 – 849.
Johnson, T., Public Perceptions of Plea Bargaining, American Journal of Criminal Law, Vol. 46, No. 1, 2019, pp. 133-156.
Kavanaugh, J., Plea Bargaining: The Prosecutor's Perspective, Police Law Quarterly, Vol. 6, No. 4, 1977, pp. 5-25.
Krapac, D., Presuda na zahtjev stranaka u stadiju istrage u hrvatskom kaznenom postupku, in: Decennium Moztanicense (ed. Pavišić, B.), Rijeka, 2008, pp. 137 – 150.
Krstulović Relija, A., Primjena kazne na zahtjev stranaka kao mehanizam konsenzualnog stranačkog upravljanja postupkom u talijanskom kaznenom procesnom pravu, Hrvatski ljetopis za kazneno pravo i praksu, Vol. 9, No. 2, 2002, pp. 373 – 399.
Lafave, W. R., The Prosecutor’s Discretion in The United States, The American Journal of Comparative Law, Vol. 18, No. 3, 1970, pp. 532-548.
McCoy, C., Plea Bargaining as Coercion: The Trial Penalty and Plea Bargaining Reform, Criminal Law Quarterly, Vol. 50, No. 1 & 2, 2005, pp. 67-107.
Mosbacher, A., The Decision of the Federal Constitutional Court of 19 March 2013 on Plea Agreements, German Law Journal, Vol. 15, No. 1, pp. 5-14.
Murmann, U., Reform oder Wiederkehr? – Die gesetzliche Regelung der Absprachen im Strafverfahren, Zeitschrift für Internationale Strafrechtsdogmatik, No. 10, 2009, pp. 526-538.
Papadopoulos, I., « Plaider coupable » La pratique américaine Le texte français, PUF, 2004.
Parker, J. F., Plea Bargaining, American Journal of Criminal Law, Vol. 1, No. 2, 1972, pp.187-209
Pizzi, W. T., Understanding Prosecutorial Discretion in the United States: The Limits of Comparative Criminal Procedure as an Instrument of Reform, Ohio State Law Journal, Vol. 54, No. 5, pp. 1325-1373.
Rauxloh, R. E., Formalization of Plea Bargaining in Germany: Will the New Legislation Be Able to Square the Circle?, Fordham International Law Journal, Vol. 34, No. 2, 2011, pp. 296-331.
Sanna, A., Il “patteggiamento” tra prassi e novelle legislative, Wolters Kluwer CEDAM, 2018.
Simonato, M., Deposizione della vittima e giustizia penale, Wolters Kluwer CEDAM, 2014.
Tomičić, Z., Novokmet, A., Nagodbe stranaka u kaznenom postupku – dostignuća i perspektive, Pravni vjesnik, Vol. 28, No. 3-4, 2012, pp. 149 – 190.
Turudić, I., Pavelin Borzić, T., Bujas, I., Sporazum stranaka u kaznenom postupku – trgovina pravdom ili? Pravni vjesnik, Vol. 32, No. 1, 2016, pp. 121 – 153.
Viano, E. C., Plea Bargaining in the United States: A Perversion of Justice, Revue internationale de droit pénal, Vol. 83, No. 1-2, 2012, pp. 109-145.
Walker Wilson, M. J., Defense Attorney Bias and the Rush to the Plea, Kansas Law Review, Vol. 65, No. 2, pp. 271-325.
Weichbrodt, K., Das Konsensprinzip strafprozessualer Absprachen, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, 2006.
Weigend, T., Iontcheva Turner, J., The Constitutionality of Negotiated Criminal Judgments in Germany, German Law Journal, Vol. 15, No. 1, pp. 81-105.
LIST OF REGULATIONS AND ACTS
Code de procédure pénale, du 5 octobre 2007 (Etat le 1er février 2020), https://www.droit-bilingue.ch/rs/lex/2005/23/20052319-unique-en-fr.html, Accessed 7 December 2020.
Code de procedure penale, Version en vigueur au 08 décembre 2020, https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/codes/texte_lc/LEGITEXT000006071154/ Accessed 6 December 2020.
Codice di procedura penale, Aggiornato al D.L. 17 marzo 2020, n. 18, accessible at: https://www.altalex.com/documents/codici-altalex/2014/10/30/codice-di-procedura-penale. Accessed 5 December 2020.
Criminal Procedure Act, Official Gazette 110/97, 27/98, 58/99, 112/99, 58/02, 143/02, (62/03), 178/04, 115/06.
Criminal Procedure Act, Official Gazette 152/08, 76/09, 80/11, 121/11, 91/12, 143/12, 56/13, 145/13, 152/14, 70/17, 126/19, 126/19.
Gesetz zur Regelung der Verständigung im Strafverfahren, July 29, 2009, BUNDESGESETZBLATT, Teil I, [BGBL. I].
Naputak o pregovaranju i sporazumijevanju s okrivljenikom o priznanju krivnje i sankciji, O-2/09, od 17. veljače 2010., p. 3, http://www.dorh.hr/PresudaPoSporazumu, Accessed 10 December 2020.
DECISIONS OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA
VSRH, I Kž-Us 60/12-4 of 10 October 2012.
VSRH, I Kž 411/12-6 of 27 August 2013 and 11 March 2014.
VSRH, I Kž-Us 134/14-6 of 13 January 2015.
VSRH, I Kž-Us 109/15-4 of 29 September 2015.
VSRH, Kzz 38/16-3 of 27 September 2017.
VSRH, Kzz 2/2018-3 of 24 January 2018.
VSRH, Kzz 17/2018-5 of 8 and 9 May 2018.
VSRH, I Kž-Us 103/2019-4 of 4 September 2019.
VSRH, I Kž 545/2019-4 of 30 October 2019.
VSRH, II-4 Kr 61/2020-4 of 4 September 2020.
WEBSITE REFERENCES
Annual report and sourcebook of federal sentencing statistics https://www.ussc.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/research-and-publications/annual-reports-and-sourcebooks/2019/2019-Annual-Report-and-Sourcebook.pdf, p. 56. Accessed 1 November 2020.
Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. https://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/frcrmp. Accessed 1 November 2020.
Ivičević Karas, E., Trial Waiver Systems in Croatia, Towards a Rights-based Approach to Trial Waiver Systems, LEAP, 2019, pp. 8 – 9, accessible at: https://www.fairtrials.org/sites/default/files/publication_pdf/20190513_Trial_Waivers_Croatia_Final.pdf Accessed 4 December 2020.
Patteggiamento, https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/patteggiamento/ Accessed 5 December 2020.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2021 Elizabeta Ivičević Karas, Ante Novokmet, Igor Martinović
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Authors retain the copyright on the papers published in the Journal, but grant the right of first publication to the Journal. Papers accepted for publication or already published in Pravni vjesnik of the Faculty of Law in Osijek may be published by the author(s) in other publications only with proper notice of its previous publication in Pravni vjesnik.
