Continued Availability of Plea Bargains After Published Guidelines on Reduction in Sentences for Guilty Pleas

Assoc Prof Jamus Jerome Lim asked the Minister for Law (a) whether plea bargains continue to be offered following the publishing of the Guidelines on Reduction in Sentences for Guilty Pleas; (b) if so, under what circumstances; and (c) whether the Guidelines will recommend a further reduction in sentences where a plea bargain has been offered and agreed upon in exchange for a guilty plea.

The Guidelines on Reduction in Sentences for Guilty Pleas (PG Guidelines) issued by the Sentencing Advisory Panel are intended to encourage accused persons, who wish to plead guilty, to do so early.

The PG Guidelines set out the ranges of reduction in sentence that a Court may consider granting, based on the stage of proceedings at which an accused person pleads guilty. The recommended ranges of reduction set out in the PG Guidelines are set out in broad terms to provide the Court with flexibility and discretion, to calibrate the sentence according to the facts of the case. The Court also retains the discretion to not apply the PG Guidelines in specific cases, if there are good reasons not to do so.

The PG Guidelines are distinct from, and do not affect, the plea bargaining process, which is the process of negotiation that may take place between the Prosecution and the Defence before the accused decides whether to plead guilty.

The Prosecution may extend a plea offer to the Defence as a matter of prosecutorial discretion based on various factors, including the resources which would be saved through a guilty plea, the accused person's co-operation with the investigation and other personal mitigating circumstances.

If the accused person accepts the plea offer and elects to plead guilty, then the Court, in the exercise of its judicial discretion, may apply the PG Guidelines and grant an appropriate reduction in sentence.