Conceived by Nueces County Court at Law #4 Judge E. Klager, this concept could be called a mediated plea bargain for misdemeanors. This process brings together the County Prosecutor, the defendant, either with his/her attorney, or pro se, and the Mediator to discuss the case and the recommended punishment. The uniqueness of Criminal Mediation is that the defendant is part of the process, and is face to face with the Law (the Prosecutor), therefore, realizing the seriousness of his/her crime. The initial motivation for Criminal Mediation was to take the load off the Courts.
In our Criminal Mediations, we found that the defendent realized that she could not manipulate the Law and must pay the consequences for their action. Because of the face-to-face arrangement, we were convinced that this process would help deter them from making the same mistake again, particularly for first time offenders. Sometimes circumstantial evidence would cause the case to be dismissed or would alter the Prosecutor's recommended punishment. At no time did the defendant "get off" from having committed the crime. An agreement was reached in 73% of the cases and was then taken to the Judge, who approved it 99% of the time. This program provided a significant financial savings to Nueces County. It took cases off the books faster than if they had gone to the Courts and with much less cost. The County Commissioners approved the costs of this program. One of the redeeming aspects of this procedure was that it was a complete process because the defendant was present to tell the "whole story." This usually does not happen when a case goes to trial.
HOW I CAN HELP
This process is normally done through the Court system. It is a mediated plea bargain in which the defendant is involved. Should your community be interested, I would be able to come and explain the process and help you set it up.
