Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
Department of Psychology, Georgetown University.
Law Hum Behav. 2021 Apr;45(2):112-123. doi: 10.1037/lhb0000439.
Research on plea bargaining is increasing, yet much of this work examines how the process unfolds in adult court. Plea bargaining in juvenile court has several notable differences such as parental involvement. Including parents throughout the adjudicatory process is encouraged but ultimately left up to the attorney. Research has not explored whether attorneys include parents in plea bargain discussions with their clients. The present study examined parental involvement in the juvenile plea bargain process.
We did not have any formal a priori hypotheses for this exploratory study.
The first author conducted qualitative interviews with eighteen defense attorneys from the juvenile division of a public defender's office on the East Coast where we discussed their most recent case that resulted in a plea bargain.
Parents were included in plea negotiations and hearings. Attorneys described seeking parental input because parents may be impacted by the terms of the plea and because the court often seeks parental approval. During hearings, parents offered input regarding their child's ability to plea, the disposition plan, and whether they support their child's decision to plead guilty.
Pleas might impact parents, so it may be impractical to overlook their interests. However, parent and child interests may conflict, and parents often lack understanding of their children's rights and pleading generally. Therefore, attorneys must not only advocate for their clients, but also educate and manage parents' interests both inside and outside the courtroom. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
关于辩诉交易的研究越来越多，但其中许多工作都考察了这一过程在成人法庭上是如何展开的。少年法庭的辩诉交易有几个显著的不同之处，例如父母的参与。尽管鼓励在整个裁决过程中让父母参与进来，但最终还是由律师决定。研究尚未探讨律师是否会让父母参与与当事人的辩诉交易讨论。本研究考察了父母在少年辩诉交易过程中的参与情况。
我们没有为这项探索性研究提出任何正式的先验假设。
第一作者对东海岸一家公设辩护人办公室少年庭的 18 名辩护律师进行了定性访谈，讨论了他们最近的一个辩诉交易案件。
父母被纳入辩诉谈判和听证。律师们表示，他们寻求父母的意见，因为父母可能会受到辩诉协议条款的影响，而且法院通常会寻求父母的同意。在听证会上，父母就孩子的认罪能力、处置计划以及是否支持孩子认罪的决定提出意见。
辩诉协议可能会影响到父母，因此忽视他们的利益可能不切实际。然而，父母和孩子的利益可能会发生冲突，而且父母往往缺乏对孩子权利和认罪一般情况的了解。因此，律师不仅必须为他们的当事人辩护，还必须在法庭内外教育和管理父母的利益。
