I. Introduction
This Article draws a distinction between two kinds of plea bargaining. In some instances, the practice of plea bargaining leads to what this Article calls de facto unilateral adjudication by the prosecution. In those cases, the prosecutor unilaterally decides who is innocen
t and guilty, and for which offense, by using coercive plea proposals. These coercive proposals make the defendant's guilty plea involuntary. In other instances, plea bargaining results in what this Article terms de facto bilateral adjudication by the prosecution and defense. In this second type of
plea bargaining, the prosecutor and the defense de facto adjudicate criminal cases through a voluntary ...