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State of Plea Bargaining in Alaska

NCJ Number
154883
Journal
Journal of Crime and Justice Volume: 18 Issue: 1 Dated: (1995) Pages: 167-197
Author(s)
O Marenin
Date Published
1995
Length
31 pages
Annotation
This paper shows, using the data and words of the Rubinstein, et al. (1980) evaluation report, that charge bargaining continued in Alaska after the Attorney General's ban in 1975 and continues to the present.
Abstract
In 1975 Alaska's Attorney General banned plea bargaining by prosecutors. The ban and a later evaluation of its impact are often cited in the literature to support arguments that plea bargaining can be abolished with little effect on the efficient functioning of the court system. These conclusions, however, are inaccurate. Plea bargaining did not disappear in Alaska following the ban, and plea bargaining is alive and well now. The research design used to assess the impact of the ban was flawed; the causal inferences drawn by the authors of the evaluation study are unpersuasive and invalid. Also, substantial changes in legal guidelines and case law have occurred in Alaska since 1980. The literature on plea bargaining, therefore, should be more careful in checking the conclusions it accepts as valid, and it should keep abreast of changes that affect generalizations about plea bargaining derived from the Alaska experience. 24 notes and 45 references