TY - JOUR
T1 - Legal Institutions and Social Values
T2 - Theory and Evidence from Plea Bargaining Regimes
AU - Givati, Yehonatan
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - How do social values shape legal institutions across countries? To address this question I focus on one important legal institution-the use of plea bargaining in criminal cases. I develop a model in which the optimal scope of plea bargaining depends on social values. Specifically, a lower social emphasis on ensuring that innocent individuals are not punished, and a greater social emphasis on ensuring that guilty individuals are punished, lead to a greater use of plea bargaining. Using unique cross-country data on social preferences for punishing the innocent versus letting the guilty go free, as well as an original coding of plea bargaining regimes across countries, I obtain results that are consistent with the model.
AB - How do social values shape legal institutions across countries? To address this question I focus on one important legal institution-the use of plea bargaining in criminal cases. I develop a model in which the optimal scope of plea bargaining depends on social values. Specifically, a lower social emphasis on ensuring that innocent individuals are not punished, and a greater social emphasis on ensuring that guilty individuals are punished, lead to a greater use of plea bargaining. Using unique cross-country data on social preferences for punishing the innocent versus letting the guilty go free, as well as an original coding of plea bargaining regimes across countries, I obtain results that are consistent with the model.
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SN - 1740-1453
VL - 11
SP - 867
EP - 893
JO - Journal of Empirical Legal Studies
JF - Journal of Empirical Legal Studies
IS - 4
ER -