An economic analysis of plea bargaining: The incentives of the parties in a mixed penal system

In 1989 the Italian Government enacted a new Code of Penal Procedure which represents one of the most prominent attempts to introduce plea bargaining proceedings into a basically inquisitorial system as alternative institutions to dispose of legal cases. The paper outlines some of the central features of the 1989 Italian reform and compares the incentives of the parties involved in the Italian and in the U.S. plea bargaining institutions with specific reference to the objective function of the prosecutors and the incentives for the defendants to plea in view of the expected sanctions and the recurrence of amnesties. The most relevant theoretical implications are tested, with several variables related to the demand and the supply of penal justice, and estimates are provided of their impact on the number of plea bargaining procedures concluded in Italy after the 1989 reform.