Victims and Plea Negotiations: Overlooked and Unimpressed (1st Edition 2021)

This book addresses a gap in knowledge of victims and plea negotiations by examining victims' views of the process.

It draws on in-depth focus groups and surveys with direct and indirect victims of crime who had been victims, or family members of victims, of serious crimes including murder, manslaughter, culpable driving, rape and serious fraud, in Victoria, Australia.

It examines questions like: what type of plea negotiation is supported by victims and what influences this, and in what ways can plea negotiations be reformed.

It outlines the changing role of victims in the criminal justice system in the Australian jurisdiction but also from international jurisdictions.

It seeks to privilege victims' voices and lived experiences of plea negotiations, and to report on victim perspectives of five victim-centred participation reforms involving plea negotiations.

To achieve this, it draws on primary research to understand the prevalence and effects of plea negotiations, as well as the legal and justice gaps in responding to contemporary challenges for victims in the adversarial system.

Overall, this Pivot conceptualises and positions plea negotiations within an understanding of procedural and substantive justice from the point of view of the victim.