Alaska’s attorney general banned plea bargaining statewide in 1975

Evidence

Responding to these criticisms, some jurisdictions have tried to restrict or abolish plea bargaining. The most successful effort was in Alaska. In 1975, the state’s attorney general, Avrum Gross, prohibited prosecutors from offering concessions as a means of obtaining guilty pleas in felony and misdemeanor cases. Gross’s ban, which effectively abolished plea bargaining in the state, produced some surprising results:*” =» Contrary to expectations,9gui ~guilty pleas in criminal cases declined -onlyemarginally; from 94 percent to 92 percent of all cases, so the number of trials increased only slightly. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1802

Categorization

• XREF: A concrete natural experiment in court reform, useful for linking legal institutions to policy outcomes.