PLEA BARGAINING IN AN ADMINISTRATIVE STATE

Abstract

Initially, criminal law was preoccupied with private remedy, but as the question of whether and how to prosecutea crime were taken out of the hands of private parties and consolidated in the hands of public officials, publicofficials began to assert more systematic control over the criminal process, and it has since transformed to asystem of public administration. As a result, States have established institutions that deal with crime as acollective problem. This has led to the concept of the ‘Administrative State’ where criminal law is enforcedthrough administrative agencies of the State through which public officials set criminal justice policies. It hasbeen urged that apart from just deserts, criminal law in the administrative state should concern itself more withinterventions that optimally promote the rights and interests of members of the society and promote the ideal ofsocial equality. Criminal law in Nigeria is in an administrative State. As a special prosecutorial device, how farhas the recently introduced plea-bargaining process in Nigeria facilitated the attainment of the purpose andfunctions of criminal law in the administrative state, in addition to the egalitarian purpose.