The Timing of Guilty Pleas

Kevin Kwok-yin Cheng is Associate Professor and Assistant Dean (Research) in the Faculty of Law, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. He has published widely about guilty pleas, plea bargaining, procedural justice and sentencing. He is co-author of The Hong Kong Legal System (second edition) (Cambridge, 2020).

• 1. Introduction: the history of the problem of 'Cracked Trials'; 2. The sliding scale of sentence discounts; 3. Implicit (and explicit) plea bargaining; 4. Revisiting the assumptions and methodology; 5. Factors affecting the timing of guilty pleas; 6. Trial and late-plea penalties; 7. Consistency in applying sentence discounts; 8. Public opinion and sentence discounts; 9. Conclusion; Index.

'Almost all jurisdictions impose more lenient sentences on defendants who plead guilty. This volume provides a thoughtful analysis of plea-based sentencing discounts. Drawing on new secondary research, the author explores the issue in Hong Kong and elsewhere. He raises important questions about current practice and the volume will interest readers in all common law jurisdictions.' Julian Roberts, Professor of Criminology, University of Oxford and Executive Director, Sentencing Academy, London