Question

Under what circumstances should a judge participate in plea negotiations? Would you want a judge who was a notorious hardliner in terms of sentencing on drug cases to participate in negotiations if you were the defendant in the above case? Remember that negotiations can fail; how might a failure in negotiation affect the outcome?

Answer 1

Judge: Judge is the legal authority who listen the pleas from both side of the case and review the pleas of each side and apply the legal laws and give the judicial decision against the legal case raised in the court. So the ey role of Judge is to listen the pleas and make a judicial decision on the case.

Generally the Judge’s role in plea negotiation is very limited. But following are the circumstances under which the judge can participate in plea negotiation as below

• The judge can participate in plea negotiation to maintain the normal speed of the case hearing.
• The judge can participate in plea negotiation when the direction of legal prosecutor is not adequate.
• The judge can participate in plea negotiation in order to resolve the conflict/barrier point and proceed with case progress.

No, we would not want a judge who was a notorious hardliner in terms of sentencing on drug cases to participate in negotiations, if we were the defendant in the above case, because we did not believe that such judge can make the real judicial decision for the case. The decision from such judge looks to be non-judicial on the reported case.

Yes, we do remember that negotiations can fail. The negotiation in failure may affect the outcome as below

• The outcome may be non-judicial
• The outcome may be influenced by negotiations
• The outcome is non-logical and judge may have favor of smart side of the case.
• The outcome may not be the outcome people would like to accept.
• The outcome may be inappropriate and inadequate for the reported case.