Negotiated Justice in an Inquisitorial Context: Factors Affecting the Defendants Decision to Enter Into Plea Agreement in Poland

• In Event: Prosecutorial Decision-making and Alternatives to trial 1. Opportunity and Negotiated Justice Across Jurisdictions

Abstract

In the context of Poland, introduction of formal plea agreements with the entry into force of the currently binding Code of Criminal Procedure 1997,has permanently changed the reality of the criminal justice system. From that time on, growing role of consensual modes in court practice can be observed, manifesting itself in an increasing number of cases resolved in these procedures as compared to those disposed by full jurisdictional trial, which is scientifically confirmed on the basis of court files research and analyses of statistical data from judicial authorities. Yet the central question remains: why do so many people forgo their right to put the prosecution's case to test in a contested trial and agree to be convicted and sentenced on consensual basis? While guilty pleas and plea bargaining have garnered extensive scientific interest in Western jurisdictions, research on factors affecting the use of consensual modes is virtually non-existent in Poland. The proposed paper presents the results of a research project carried out at the Department of Criminal Procedure, Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Gdansk, designed fill the existing empirical gap by exploring legal and extra-legal factors infuencing defendants decision to use existing consensual modes of Polish criminal procedurę. Employed methods involved combined qualitative and quantitative elements. Qualitative data was collected during courtroom observations and direct, semi-structured interviews with a sample of 41 defendants, whose cases were concluded on consensual basis in one of 8 chosen common court units within a country in the period from May 2021 to April 2023. This was further supplemented by the data obtained through the use of highly standardized questionnaire for interviewed respondents, designed primarily to obtain basic demographic information on the sample, as well as relevant procedural information related to the course of proceedings on the pre-trial stage.

Author

• Andrzej Lewna, University of Gdansk