Fraud Trials: Plea Negotiation- Plea Bargaining

Reproduced with kind permission of The Barrister ,Trinity Term Issue

Article by Monty Raphael, joint head of Fraud and Regulatory Department

Any reform, particularly one as drastic as introducing negotiated justice must, I believe, be accompanied by an assurance that it would not diminish the public's trust in the fair and evenhanded dispensation of criminal justice

The decision to put the Old Bailey's cases online reveals that until the mid-19th century judges and juries at that Court could sometimes get through three whole trials in a day. True, few, if any, accused were represented, but still, such efficiency must inspire those in Whitehall anxious to see a return to such judicial efficiency.