A plea bargain is a legal term referring to any agreement in a criminal case between the prosecutor and defendant. The defendant agrees to plead guilty to a particular charge in return for some concession from the prosecutor. Plea bargain agreements have come into the spotlight of late. Two of the four men accused of stabbing Mozambican national, Emmanuel Josias to death, might enter into a plea agreement with the state. In the Jayde Panayiotou murder case, a bouncer is said to be concluding a plea deal with police to outline the involvement of Christopher Panayiotou's in his wife's murder. Another high-profile case, include the 2005 murder of mining magnate Brett Kebble. Three gunmen turned state witness and were acquitted. Nobody has been prosecuted for the crime. On the Forum@8 we discuss how the judicial systems exercise their powers when it negotiates a plea and sentence bargain. We will also examine the fairness and the constitutionality of this process and ask : Is plea bargaining a distortion of justice?

_______________________________ Our Guests for the discussion:

Advocate GD Baloyi - Who is the Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions, for the Gauteng division In Pretoria

And

June Marks - Who is an attorny at June Marks Attorneys