THIS PRELIMINARY REPORT BY THE INSTITUTE OF CRIMINAL LAW AND PROCEDURE, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY LAW CENTER, IS SUBJECT TO REVISION IN THE FINAL REPORT. THE AUTHORS PRESENT THE DATA GATHERED SO FAR TOWARD THE GOAL OF DESCRIBING THE VARIETY OF PLEA BARGAINING SYSTEMS THAT EXIST ACROSS THE COUNTRY. THE METHODOLOGY EMPLOYED WAS ON-SITE INTERVIEWS OF JUDGES AND OTHER COURT PERSONNEL AT 20 JURISDICTIONS OF OVER 100,000 POPULATION SELECTED THROUGH STRATIFIED RANDOM SELECTION. INTERVIEW DATA, STATISTICAL DATA, AND OBSERVATIONAL DATA ARE ANALYZED. SPECIFIC TOPICS COVERED ARE THE JUDICIAL ROLE IN PLEA BARGAINING, THE PREDICTABILITY OF SENTENCE AFTER A GUILTY PLEA, SENTENCING DIFFERENTIALS BETWEEN THOSE ARISING FROM GUILTY PLEAS AND THOSE IMPOSED AFTER TRIAL AND TYPES OF PLEA BARGAINING IN THE 20 JURISDICTIONS. APPENDIXES INCLUDE A COMPREHENSIVE ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY OF OVER 350 REFERENCES RELATED TO PLEA BARGAINING. THE REFERENCES INCLUDE PUBLISHED AND UNPUBLISHED BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, PERIODICALS, GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS AND ARTICLES. THE BIBLIOGRAPHY IN THE FINAL REPORT WILL BE INDEXED. A 50 PAGE FEASIBILITY STUDY FOR A COST ANALYSIS OF PLEA BARGAINING IS ALSO INCLUDED....MSP