Plea Bargaining

This report examines laws and practices related to plea bargaining in six countries: Georgia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nigeria, Russia, and Singapore. Of these countries, three (Georgia, Malaysia, and Nigeria) have formalized both charge and sentence bargaining procedures in legislation. Russian legislation provides for a “special trial procedure” for defendants who plead guilty, and “special path” provisions based on Russia’s approach are currently being considered as part of criminal procedure reforms in Indonesia. Russia has also implemented provisions on “pretrial cooperation agreements” aimed at providing incentives for individuals involved in organized crime to cooperate with authorities in exchange for a reduced sentence. Georgia also provides for “agreements on special cooperation.” In Singapore, there are no current or proposed plea bargaining provisions in legislation. However, two programs have been implemented that enable alternative case resolution processes to be applied.