Towards a plea-bargaining theory: Need to impose legal and deontological limits for its use

Abstract

This paper proposes to give the kick to discuss a legal theory about using plea bargaining in Latin America. First of all, we do a review of the different research that legal and sociolegal scholars conducted on this phenomenon. Then, we describe the risk of plea bargaining in the US criminal justice system based on the recent report by the American Bar Association and ask: Can something similar be thought of for our country? Finally, and after pointing out some hypotheses for future work, we conclude the necessity of building a theory on plea bargaining to establish deontological and legal limits in its use.