The jury

Plea bargaining: Thriving despite reservations

Despite continuous arguments about the use of plea bargain in the Nigerian criminal justice system and doubts about its efficiency, stakeholders have argued that plea bargaining is beneficial to the justice system, as it makes more efficient use of resources and saving time that would otherwise be spent on a full trial. YEJIDE GBENGA-OGUNDARE reports that despite opinions that it can be abused by prosecutors, plea bargaining has aided the criminal jurisprudence by giving effect to prompt disposition of criminal cases, savings on the cost of trial and can be seen as an equivalent of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) in civil matters.

The use of plea bargains; a form of negotiation between the prosecutor and the defendant, where the defendant agrees to plead guilty in exchange for a lighter sentence or punishment, has been a topic of debate for many years in the Nigerian criminal justice system, with arguments and counter-arguments on whether it allows criminals to get off easily and whether it serves as a deterrent. There have been voices of recent supporting the system as one that is beneficial to the justice system.

The arguments for the system is premised on the ground that it is an effective tool for reducing the backlog of cases in the courts and providing quicker resolutions to criminal cases. It is believed that it can lead to more efficient use of resources in the criminal justice system because by allowing defendants to plead guilty to lesser charges or receive reduced sentences in exchange for their cooperation with law enforcement, plea bargaining can save time and resources that would otherwise be spent on a full trial.

But there is a school of thought that argues that it is a means of allowing criminals get off easily without paying for their crimes adequately and makes the punishment to lack the deterrence factor that should be an important ingredient and can encourage increase in crime rate. To them, the system can be abused by prosecutors who may use the threat of a harsher sentence to coerce defendants into accepting a plea bargain and force innocent people into pleading guilty to crimes they did not commit to avoid the risk of a longer sentence. They also think it can be exploited and it can lead to unequal treatment of defendants because people that can afford better lawyers may receive more lenient plea deals than those who cannot.

In Nigeria, pleas bargain was enshrined into the constitution as a tool to ensure an efficient and swift justice delivery. It was introduced in 2015 with the enactment of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), which allows for plea bargain in certain circumstances with the aim of encouraging defendants to accept responsibility for their actions and reduce the burden on the criminal justice system by avoiding lengthy trials. For a successful plea bargain agreement, parties must during the course of negotiation make compromises to reach an achievable agreement.

Plea bargain became known and applied with the establishment of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Act, following increased level of corruption, as the concept was provided for under Section 14(2) of the EFCC Act.

Plea Bargaining under the EFCC Act

Indeed, Section 14(2) of the EFCC Act empowers the commission, subject to the prosecutorial powers of the Attorney-General under Section 174 of the Constitution to institute, continue or discontinue criminal proceedings against any persons in any court of law, to compound any offence punishable under the EFCC Act by accepting such sum of money as it thinks fit not exceeding the maximum amount to which that person would have been liable if he had been convicted of that offence.

There are missed reactions and diverse opinions on whether, despite the advantages, the plea bargain system is fair on all parties and myriad of arguments have been brought forward for and against the arrangement.

Arguments against plea bargain

Many have argued that a plea bargain undermines the principle of the presumption of innocence and the right to a fair trial as it automatically puts the guilty charge on the defendant. It is also said that the process can be abused by prosecutors who may use coercion or intimidation to force defendants to accept plea deals, even when they may be innocent.

Also, it is argued that plea bargaining may lead to inconsistencies in sentencing, with defendants who can negotiate better deals receiving lighter sentences than those who are unable to do so and create an incentive for defendants to plead guilty even when they may have a strong defense that should be pursued just because there is a risk of a harsher sentence if they go to trial.

Some belief that the Nigerian criminal justice system lacks capacity to effectively implement plea bargain as it requires skilled prosecutors and judges who can assess merits of plea deals and ensure that they are fair and just.

It is said that while plea bargaining has the potential to improve the efficiency of the Nigerian criminal justice system; there is also a need for effective oversight mechanisms to prevent abuse of the process which may be lacking in the Nigerian system.

A lawyer, Sola Agbede said, “There is a tendency for it to undermine the principles of fairness and justice as it erodes the guilty or not guilty aspect of trial, especially in criminal proceedings which rely solely the legal principles of proof beyond reasonable doubt and presumption of innocence until proven guilty.

“As a result, the sentence that will be given by a judge may be ridiculous and disproportionate to the crime committed. I support the view that it has no place in our law and was invented to provide soft landing for high-profile criminals who loot the treasury entrusted to them,” she said.

Arguments for plea bargain

Arguments advanced for the use of plea bargain includes the fact that it serves as one of the tools used in the expedient disposition of criminal trials and serves as a case management strategy

It is said that plea bargain not only creates an avenue for punitive justice, in some instances it also incorporates the concept of restorative justice by placing the victim back to the position they would have been and plea bargain agreements may give you exponentially less severe penalties than a conviction at trial.

Stakeholders’ administration of criminal justice system argue that it is cost efficient and should be fully embraced as it provides a win-win situation for both the state and the accused in such a way that the conviction upon a plea bargain adds in number to the successful convictions by the state as well as saves the state from wasting scarce resources and on the other hand, a win for the suspect because he receives a reduced charge and sentence for admitting to the crime.

Lawyers’ views

Dave Ajetomobi, former NBA chairman, Ikeja Bar, said “Plea bargain has same effect as pursuing trial to conviction, the defendant will plead guilty to lesser charges and refund agreed sum of money and/or in some cases get a reduced prison term. He is a convict by any definition.

Another lawyer, Bolu Thomas stated that plea bargain has the same consequence on a convict as a normal conviction, adding that the only difference is that it is normally an agreement between the defendant and the prosecutor in which the defendant agrees to plead guilty and receives a lighter sentence for the crime.

For Donald Orakwe, “the essence of plea bargain is to lessen the punishment of the accused person and it does not subtract from the fact that such defendants who pleaded guilty has not mitigated the effect of guilt as pronounced by the court, adding that it has the same consequence that is same as conviction, though on a lesser charge for which one has pleaded guilty.

Aromasodun Oni said plea bargain helps the state to get a faster and less costly conviction, especially when evidence is scanty or witnesses are not ready to testify, adding that it does not remove the stain of conviction from the defendant as he forever remains a convict until he is pardoned by the president or by the governor of his state.

Though many disadvantages have been adduced to the plea bargain system, including the argument that innocent persons may be unduly influenced to plead guilty while offenders may be sentenced to lesser penalties, encouraging higher crime rates, it has been argued that the idea of plea bargaining has aided the criminal jurisprudence in many ways especially decongestion of courts and criminal trials.

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