As far as plea bargains go, it's been my good fortune to study, although I know it's not very popular, jurisdictions down in the United States. There are literally thousands of individual jurisdictions where plea bargains are discussed with victims prior to moving forward. The overwhelming evidence and response is that it makes the crown's job easier, because the victim now understands in many cases why a plea bargain is accepted or a plea bargain is proposed. They would rather have a conviction than see everybody walk out the door totally free.
On November 6th, 2014. See this statement in context.