Criminal defense lawyers and plea bargaining: an heterogeneous practice

This article focuses on professional practices of criminal defense lawyers during plea bargaining, the main way of settling criminal cases in Canada. Inspired by interactionism sociological perspectives, the article theoretical background is Strauss' job segmentation framework (Strauss, 1992), and aims to understand how criminal defense lawyers' practises differ during the plea bargaining process. Analysing twelve semi- structured interviews of criminal defence lawyers working at the Montreal courthouse, the article evaluates the heterogeneity of their practises and their reasons, presenting the lawyers' conceptions as well as their practises for every single step of the negotiations. The article demonstrates the existence of clusters of practices among lawyers, but fails to find a precise segmentation. Although there are differences between lawyers' practices, they are dynamic and can overlap depending on the context surrounding criminal causes, because lawyers' strategies are tailored to circumstances. The article concludes by questioning the consequences of such an heterogeneity on the defendants' defense within the criminal justice system.