ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the issues by looking at the distribution of acquittals and convictions. It looks at the impact of working rules and institutional forms upon outcomes in court. The chapter focuses the threads together in an attempt to assess the 'meaning' of acquittal and conviction rates. Legal structures centred around Crime Control are often used to explain the guilty plea system. The police used to sustain their policy, and the crown prosecution service (CPS) continues to do so, in part because of a cluster of reasons: a guilty verdict, and a guilty plea or a face saving compromise in the form of a plea bargain. The practice of CPS endorsing files 'Offer bind over if not guilty plea' or even 'Discontinue if the defence go to trial'. Prosecutors and defence lawyers share 'a common code of ethics and have a special allegiance to the court and the demands of justice'.
