Inside Plea Bargaining

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xiii

   PDF

2. The Language of Negotiation

   • Douglas W. Maynard

   Pages 1-27

3. The Courtroom Context of Plea Bargaining

   • Douglas W. Maynard

   Pages 29-53

4. Frame Analysis of Plea Bargaining

   • Douglas W. Maynard

   Pages 55-76

5. The Structure of Bargaining Sequences

   • Douglas W. Maynard

   Pages 77-102

6. Routine and Adversarial Justice

   • Douglas W. Maynard

   Pages 103-118

7. Descriptions and Assessments of Defendants

   • Douglas W. Maynard

   Pages 119-138

8. Modeling Sentencing Decisions

   • Douglas W. Maynard

   Pages 139-163

9. A Discourse System for Negotiation

   • Douglas W. Maynard

   Pages 165-200

10. Inside Plea Bargaining

    • Douglas W. Maynard

    Pages 201-208

11. Back Matter

    Pages 209-257

    PDF

Negotiation is a ubiquitous part of social life. Some even say that social order itself is a negotiated phenomenon. Yet the study of negotiation as an actual discourse activity, occurring between people who have substantial interests and tasks in the real social world, is in its infancy. This is the more surprising because plea bargaining, as a specific form of negotiation, has recently been the center of an enormous amount of research attention. Much of the concern has been directed to basic ques­ tions of justice, such as how fair the process is, whether it is unduly coercive, and whether it accurately separates the guilty from the innocent. A study such as mine does not try to answer these sorts of questions. I believe that we are not in a position to answer them until we approach plea bargaining on its own complex terms. Previous studies that have attempted to provide a general picture of the process as a way to assess its degree of justness have neglected the specific skills by which prac­ titioners bargain and negotiate, the particular procedures through which various surface features such as character assessment are accomplished, and concrete ways in which justice is administered and, simultaneously, caseloads are managed.

• Frame
• discourse
• modeling
• social life
• structure
• literary diction

• University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA

  Douglas W. Maynard

Policies and ethics