美國認罪協商制度之研究及對台灣之啟示

A Study on the Plea-Bargain System in the United States and How Can Taiwan Learn from Its Experiences

近年來在司法改革的浪潮下，我國刑事訴訟法歷經多次改革，但卻遲遲未能處理司法系統案件負荷之問題，案件量的超載儼然成為未來刑事訴訟制度繼續改革之阻礙，實有必要加以正視。在美國，案件量的重擔主要是透過認罪協商制度進行舒緩，然而，此制度過度壓抑被告自由決定是否行使受審權之結果，始終為人所詬病。本研究擬針對美國認罪協商制度及其缺點進行介紹，強調認罪協商制度背後存在之系統性影響因素，包括檢察官廣泛的起訴裁量權、過度擴張的刑事法體系與強制最低刑度相結合的審判懲罰、美國審前羈押與保釋制度的適用、協商程序中辯護權的運作問題等，試圖釐清美國認罪協商制度失靈之原因。本文擬先就美國認罪協商制度進行討論，其中包含認罪協商制度的法律框架、美國檢察官的裁量權限及影響認罪協商制度的環境因素，再與我國協商制度相對照，最後試圖整理出若我國考慮放寬現行協商制度，可以嘗試什麼樣的途徑，又將可能面臨哪些問題，期待本文的討論可作為擬定未來刑事政策之參考。

The judicial reforms in recent years have brought many changes to the exiting criminal justice system, but none of the reforms has effectively addressed the overburdened justice system. The United States uses the plea-bargain system to alleviate the problem caused by the growing caseload. However, it is also widely criticized by commentators that the system puts too much pressure on the defendant. This paper seeks to describe the factors that led to the failure of the American system, especially focusing on systematic issues such as the prosecutor’s broad prosecutorial discretion, overextended criminal law system, application of mandatory minimum penalty, the pretrial detention and bail system, and ineffective assistance of counsel in plea-bargain. This article first discusses the plea-bargain system in the United States, including the prosecutorial discretion and the systematic factors that affects the system. The second part compares the United States system with the Taiwan system. Finally, this article would contemplate on the possible problems that needs to be solved when Taiwan loosens the current restrictions on plea-bargain a lean toward the American model. It is expected that the discussion in this article can be used as a reference for future criminal policy reforms.