Editing Plea bargain (section)

===Canada===
In Canada, the courts always have the final say with regard to sentencing. Nevertheless, plea bargaining has become an accepted part of the criminal justice system although judges and Crown attorneys are often reluctant to refer to it as such. In most Canadian criminal proceedings, [[the Crown]] has the ability to recommend a lighter sentence than it would seek following a guilty verdict in exchange for a guilty plea.<ref>{{cite web|title=Victim Participation in the Plea Negotiation Process in canada|url=http://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/cj-jp/victim/rr02_5/p3.html|website=Department of Justice|access-date=28 June 2017|date=7 January 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170707131819/http://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/cj-jp/victim/rr02_5/p3.html|archive-date=7 July 2017}}</ref>

Like other common law jurisdictions, the Crown can also agree to withdraw some charges against the defendant in exchange for a guilty plea. This has become standard procedure for certain offences such as [[impaired driving]]. In the case of [[hybrid offence]]s, the Crown must make a binding decision as to whether to proceed [[summary conviction|summarily]] or [[Indictable offence|by indictment]] prior to the defendant making his or her plea. If the Crown elects to proceed summarily and the defendant then pleads [[not guilty (plea)|not guilty]], the Crown cannot change its election. Therefore, the Crown is not in a position to offer to proceed summarily in exchange for a guilty plea.

Canadian judges are not bound by the Crown's sentencing recommendations and could impose harsher (or more lenient) penalties. Therefore, the Crown and the defence will often make a ''joint submission'' with respect to sentencing. While a joint submission can entail both the Crown and defence recommending exactly the same disposition of a case, this is not common except in cases that are sufficiently minor that the Crown is willing to recommend a [[discharge (sentence)|discharge]]. In more serious cases, a joint submission normally call for a sentence within relatively narrow range, with the Crown arguing for a sentence at the upper end of the range and the defence arguing for a sentence at the lower end, so as to maintain the visibility of the judge's ability to exercise discretion.<ref>{{cite web|title=Resolution Discussions|url=http://www.ppsc-sppc.gc.ca/eng/pub/fpsd-sfpg/fps-sfp/tpd/p3/ch07.html|website=Public Prosecution Service of Canada|access-date=28 June 2017|date=31 August 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170717001353/http://www.ppsc-sppc.gc.ca/eng/pub/fpsd-sfpg/fps-sfp/tpd/p3/ch07.html|archive-date=17 July 2017}}</ref>

Judges are not bound to impose a sentence within the range of a joint submission, and a judge's disregard for a joint submission is not in itself grounds for the sentence to be altered on appeal. However, if a judge routinely disregards joint submissions, that judge would compromise the ability of the Crown to offer meaningful incentives for defendants to plead guilty. Defence lawyers would become reluctant to enter into joint submissions if they were thought to be of little value with a particular judge, which would thus result in otherwise avoidable trials. For these reasons, Canadian judges will normally impose a sentence within the range of any joint submission.<ref>{{Cite web |author=A. Pringle |url=http://www.encyclopediecanadienne.ca/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0006344#SUBLinks |title=Plea Bargaining - The Canadian Encyclopedia |publisher=Encyclopediecanadienne.ca |access-date=2012-03-14 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111001061612/http://www.encyclopediecanadienne.ca/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0006344#SUBLinks |archive-date=2011-10-01 }}</ref>

Following a [[Supreme Court of Canada]] ruling that imposes strict time limits on the resolution of criminal cases (eighteen months for cases in provincial court and thirty months for cases in Superior Court), several provinces have initiated and intensified measures intended to maximize the number of minor criminal cases resolved by a plea bargain.

Largely particular to the Canadian justice system is that further negotiations concerning the final disposition of a criminal case may also arise even after a sentence has been passed. This is because in Canada the Crown has (by common law standards) a very broad right to appeal acquittals,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Government of Canada |first=Department of Justice |date=2014-09-02 |title=3.15 Appeals and Interventions in the Provincial and Territorial Courts of Appeal - PPSC |url=https://www.ppsc-sppc.gc.ca/eng/pub/fpsd-sfpg/fps-sfp/tpd/p3/ch15.html |access-date=2025-01-30 |website=www.ppsc-sppc.gc.ca}}</ref> and also a right to appeal for harsher sentences except in cases where the sentence imposed was maximum allowed. Therefore, in Canada, after sentencing the defence sometimes has an incentive to try to persuade the Crown to not appeal a case, in exchange for the defence also declining to appeal. While, strictly speaking, this is not plea bargaining, it is done for largely the same reasons.