The upside of accepting a plea deal usually involves the defendant's pleading guilty to a lesser charge, or to only one of several charges. The agreements allow prosecutors to turn their attention and resources on other cases, and reduce the number of trials that judges need to attend. Though by accepting a plea deal one pleads guilty to one charge which usually results on your record forever because you plead guilty and didn't take your chance of proving your innocence by going to trial. For example if Larry Servedio did not want to accept his plea deal of two consecutive state prison terms of seven-and-a-half years by pleading guilty to two felony counts of second-degree kidnapping and go to trial he would face the possibility of losing the case and be sentenced to longer terms in prison. For the prosecution it saves them time but most important it helps the judges not overcrowd prisons by sentencing criminals to short terms which usually keeps them within their county lines.
Prosecutors have the power to send offenders away which allows them to make harsh decisions. They offer plea bargains to offenders which often will enable them to do time in prison. Pfaff stated that "as long as prosecutors simply use the tough laws as a bargaining chip, not real punishment, legislators can reap the political benefits of looking tough on crime while avoiding difficult financial decisions" (Pfaff, 2017, P136). Prosecutors offer a plea bargain to get rid of cases quickly and not allow offenders to go to trial because they might receive more prison
For the defendant, the most significant benefit to plea bargaining is to take away the uncertainty of a criminal trial and to avoid the maximum sentence. Society also benefits from plea bargaining since the agreements lessen court congestion and free up prosecutors to handle more cases. The Cons of Plea
In the United States court system, many criminal cases are not resolved in a timely manner. One of the more common ways in which many cases are resolved quickly is through plea bargaining. Plea bargaining is defined as an agreement between defense attorneys and prosecutors. (Spohn & Hemmens, 2012) Alschuler (1979) describes plea bargaining as the self-conviction act of a defendant. Today, approximately ninety percent of defendants plead guilty because of plea bargaining.
Pleas also give the defendant some certainty in sentencing, where often charges are reduced or withdrawn, and the range of sentencing options decreases when a deal is struck with the prosecutor. The mitigation of the sentence can have a positive effect on the defendant, because it has been shown that longer and harsher sentences do not reduce the risk of recidivism and can be detrimental to the offender. Longer jail terms are also more expensive than less restrictive sanctions, so this can also reduce the spending of state money. and spare victims the trauma of testifying in
The controversy of plea bargains go with the stigma of using plea-bargains in every court case. Plea bargains can be useful,
• The Constitution is weakened by the excessive use of plea-bargaining to avoid a trial. Research has shown that criminal defendants who exercise their Sixth Amendment right to trail by jury are more severely punished than those who accept plea bargains (Devers, 2011, p. 2). It is assumed that plea-bargaining weakens the criminal justice system by allowing violent criminals to plea out of serious charges and putting the disadvantaged and potentially innocent or partially innocent in a position where exercising their constitutional right to a trial by jury is too risky of an option. Prosecutors are required by the state to carry the burden and prosecute the accused.
If plea bargains did not take place, then the court system would probably shut down. The courts would not be able to handle all the cases that would come through. Prosecutors are over worked now; plea bargains help them reduce their case. (Sanderfur) Prosecutors will be to put their hearts and souls into cases that really need their attention.
People plead guilty for crimes that are not committed by them to avoid trial, but by doing so the right decision wasn’t made.
In the criminal justice system there are is a large amount of criminal cases. The court system wants to get rid of these cases as quickly as possible for maximum efficiency. That is where plea bargaining comes in to play. It helps the court
I negate the resolution; Plea bargaining ought to be abolished in the United States criminal justice system. I value societal welfare defined as the application of judicial practices and protection of society. My criterion to support my value is developing an effective justice system. This means that in a world of compromise, the most success is achieved by giving the greatest good to the greatest number of people. This belief applies directly to plea bargaining, the most justice must be delt to the greatest number of people.
About The Plea The Plea is a film that tries to inform society of the issues with plea bargains and the overall criminal justice system. In the film, a couple of people who were all innocent where charged for a crime that they didn’t commit. The reason for the charges where, mostly, because they took plea deals due to the pressure that they received either by the lawyers, judges, or/and family members. According to Lynch (2003), “More than 90 percent of the criminal cases in America are never tried, much less proven, to juries” (p. 24). Our System Encourage Innocent Defendants to Plead Unfortunately, due to the amount of crime activity that is going on, the court has to many cases to handle and plea bargains are pushed on people to avoid the long process of a trail.
The positive of the guilty plea is a controversial aspect of the criminal justice systems. He helps to solves the cases faster, speed up legal procedures, eliminate the number of cases in the court. Save time and money to the government. In addition, reduce the number of people in prisons. People who accepted plea bargaining, some of them get a probation, and can go home.
Plea barging is an important part of the admistration of justice because it saves time and makes the process quicker it also gives the chance for the defendant to plea guilty or not guilty. I would improve plea bargain by being fair with the people serving justice, no person should go thru what the two women went thru in the video. Both women had an attorney who they trusted the attorney only spoke to the judge and convinced both women to plea guilty. I believe attorneys should be fair with their clients they should be treated equally not by their income. The negative consequence of plea barging is many innocent people pea guilty fear of serving jail time and the cost of probation.
Sentencing Sentencing occurs after a defendant has been convicted of a crime. During the sentencing process, the court issues a punishment that involves a fine, imprisonment, capital punishment, or some other penalty. In some states, juries may be entitled to determine a sentence. However, sentencing in most states and federal courts are issued by a judge. To fully understand the sentencing phase of criminal court proceedings, it is important to examine how sentencing affects the state and federal prison systems, learn the meanings of determinate and indeterminate sentencing, and understand the impact Proposition 57 has had on sentencing in California.
