Plea Bargaining and Abbreviated Trial in Italy

Abstract

The introduction of forms of negotiated justice in Italy required harmonization with the constitutional principles of criminal law and procedure. As far as plea bargaining is concerned, particularly problematic are the issues of the assessment of the defendant’s responsibility, of the role of the judge and of the determination of the punishment. With regard to the abbreviated trial, the main constitutional concern is that it has become an almost inquisitorial proceeding. From a practical point of view, statistical data show a limited use of plea bargaining and abbreviated trial, which are unable to solve judicial backlog problems.

Keywords: plea bargaining, harmonisation