Victims and Plea Negotiations

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xv

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2. Victims and Plea Negotiations: Overlooked and Unimpressed

   • Arie Freiberg, Asher Flynn

   Pages 1-35

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3. Informing and Consulting Victims About Plea Negotiations

   • Arie Freiberg, Asher Flynn

   Pages 37-60

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4. The Opportunity for Victims to Challenge Plea Negotiation Decisions

   • Arie Freiberg, Asher Flynn

   Pages 61-77

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5. Judicial Involvement in Plea Negotiations

   • Arie Freiberg, Asher Flynn

   Pages 79-89

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6. Victim Veto: The Power to Stop Plea Negotiations

   • Arie Freiberg, Asher Flynn

   Pages 91-96

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7. Victim Representation and Plea Negotiations

   • Arie Freiberg, Asher Flynn

   Pages 97-106

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8. Victims and Plea Negotiations: Overlooked, Under Informed and Under Involved

   • Arie Freiberg, Asher Flynn

   Pages 107-116

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9. Back Matter

   Pages 117-139

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This book explores victims’ views of plea negotiations and the level of input that they desire. It draws on the empirical findings of the first in-depth study of victims and plea negotiations conducted in Australia. Over the last 50 years, the criminal justice system has seen major changes in both the role that victims play in the justice process and in how the vast majority of criminal cases are finalised. Guilty pleas have become the norm, and many of these result fromnegotiations between the prosecutor and the defence. The extent to which the victim is one of the participating parties in plea negotiations however, is a question of law and of practice. Drawing from focus groups and surveys with victims of crime, Victims and Plea Negotiations seeks to privilege victims’ voices and lived experiences of plea negotiations, to present their perspectives on five options for enhanced participation in this legal process. This book appeals to academicsand students in the areas of law, criminology, sociology, victimology and legal studies, those who practice in the criminal justice system generally, those who work with victims, and policy makers.

• ADR
• alternative dispute resolution
• criminal process
• victimology
• socio-legal
• law reform
• legal proceedings
• human rights
• legal representation
• plea bargaining
• victim participation
• victim rights

​“This comprehensive and meticulously documented book fills a serious gap in available research on victim participation in plea bargaining. It provides a wideranging review and analysis including stakeholders’ perspectives and related laws from Australia, New Zealand, the US and the UK. Its most significant contribution is the vivid account of victims’ secondary victimization as they navigate this legal institution, prosecutors’ approaches to victims and the disempowering impact that plea bargaining decision-making processes and outcomes have on victims.”- Professor Edna Erez, Professor of Criminology, Law, and Justice, University of Illinois at Chicago


“Plea bargaining is the black box of criminal justice decision-making. It is hidden from the public but also from the parties most immediately effected by a crime and its consequences—victims who suddenly see what happened to them reduced to a shadow of the reality they experienced. Victims find the disconnect between their lived experience and the process disconcerting and worse, “I feel like a fringe dweller”. In this important study of victims reactions to plea bargaining, Freiberg and Flynn expertly prize open the plea bargaining box for victims by asking them about their experiences, including their views of potential policy interventions. As one victim sums up—justice must not only be done, and seen to be done, but also ‘felt to be done’. Criminal justice systems worldwide have allowed efficiency to become their super paradigm. This book is a timely reminder for practitioners, policy makers and students of criminal justice about the importance of recognizing that victims are the proxy for the communities they serve and protect. Freiberg and Flynn clearly articulate why a plea bargain is not just ‘a deal’—it’s a human story to be respected.”
- Professor Kathy Laster, Director, Sir Zelman Cowen Centre, Professor of Law, Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia

• Faculty of Law, Monash University, Clayton, Australia

  Arie Freiberg

• Faculty of Arts, Monash University, Clayton, Australia

  Asher Flynn

Arie Freiberg is Emeritus Professor at Monash University, Australia. He holds adjunct positions with the Sir Zelman Cowen Centre, Victoria University, Melbourne, and the Australia and New Zealand School of Government, and he has authored over 180 publications.


Asher Flynn is Associate Professor of Criminology at Monash University, Australia. She is a leading international researcher in policy and prevention concerning gendered and sexual violence, and AI and technology-facilitated abuse. Asher has published 6 books, including Plea Negotiations: Pragmatic Justice In An Imperfect World (2018) with Arie Freiberg.

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