Germany resolves routine cases via prosecutor-authored penal orders rather than plea negotiation.

Evidence

In Germany and many other civil-law countries, plea bargaining is unknown. Still, most routine cases are resolved without trial. The mechanism developed in Germany for disposing of such cases is called the penal order. Prepared by the prosecutor and signed by the judge, this order describes the wrongdoing of the defendant, the evidence gathered by the state, and the penalty to be imposed on the defendant. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1739

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the penal order, a procedural device contrasted with American plea bargaining.
• XREF: Provides the comparative baseline the course uses to highlight what is distinctive about American adversarial adjudication. — connects to: Roughly three quarters of German defendants accept penal orders instead of trial. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1740; German penal orders never penalize defendants for exercising trial rights — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1741

Broader Connections

• Roughly three quarters of German defendants accept penal orders instead of trial. #corroborates (0.95) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1740
• German penal orders never penalize defendants for exercising trial rights #complicates (0.85) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1741