Dervan Publishes New Research re False Testimony and False Pleas by the Innocent in the U.S., Japan and S. Korea
Several years ago, Japan passed a new law that allowed the use of formal plea bargaining for the first time. Key to the law was a provision that attempted to limit the risk of false pleas by the innocent by requiring that those pleading guilty provide information about a crime committed by a third party. This prevented the type of single defendant plea bargains that are so common in the United States. At the same time, South Korea continued to debate whether they should follow a similar path and permit the use of plea bargaining. All the while, bargained justice continued to dominate the U.S. criminal justice system. The new legislation in Japan and discussions in South Korea led to the creation of a collaborative research study that brought together scholars from the United States, Japan, and South Korea to examine the innocence issue from a global perspective and test through psychological deception studies whether Japan's attempts to prevent false pleas of guilty would be effect