The Economist Magazine Discusses Prof. Dervan's Plea Bargaining Research
This week's The Economist magazine contains an article entitled " A deal you can't refuse: The troubling spread of plea-bargaining from America to the world ." The piece, referenced on the magazine's cover as "The perils of plea bargains," details the growth of plea bargaining around the world over the last two decades. A recent study of the issue by Fair Trials International revealed that in 1990 just 19 countries used some form of plea bargaining. That number is now 66. In examining the issue of the global spread of plea bargaining, The Economist looked at the history of plea bargaining in the United States and its growth in the shadows of the American criminal justice system in the early twentieth century. This issue is discussed in detail in my article entitled " Bargained Justice: Plea Bargaining's Innocence Problem and the Brady Safety-Valve ," available here for free download. The Economist article also discusses m...