Is Plea Bargaining Ethical Analysis
This way, they are not admitting to being guilty or innocent. In this plan, they would probably have to pay the plaintiff money, and maybe have to reevaluate their health care procedures for their inmates, including the professionals who work there. I believe this plan would be the best for the Corrections Department. They would not be found guilty and might not have to deal with as many consequences, compared to if they were found guilty. A final possible plan of action could be for the Department to plead guilty for negligence.
Tainted Justice System MINNEAPOLIS- In the case against Hannah Overton, who was wrongfully accused of killing her foster child by forcing salt down the child’s throat. Overton spent 17 years of her life sentence in prison, missing her 5 other kids grow up. She fell victim to a justice system that did not take the time for a fair prosecution process. This is just one case that represents a multitude of wrongfully prosecuted court cases.
The Pros and Cons of Plea Bargaining Disclaimer By: LawInfo When faced with criminal charges, a defendant often has one simple goal. That is, to minimize the potential penalty. Of course, being found innocent at trial, and being aquitted, is the best way to avoid jail time and other penalties.
Defendants are in great pressure to lie to their counsel regarding guilt or innocence. If the defendant decides to admit his or her guilt, it makes it difficult to help the defendant. Or if the defendant lies about involvement it is difficult to negotiate plea bargains or the plea agreement given. This scenario poses an ethical dilemma for the attorney, which is to permit a client to lie in court and plea guilty when they indicted their innocence. With the plea bargain the defendant is able to freely tell the truth with the knowledge that plea bargain will exist whether he denies guilt or not.
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.
Epstein got the deal of a lifetime when his secret plea deal got him a pity excuse for a sentence in which he only served 13 months and was able to leave with work release privileges. This stark contrast to the harsh punishments faced by individuals from lower socioeconomic backgrounds for similar offences highlights the inherent inequality within the justice system and is a clear example of social conflict theory which was discussed earlier. This case raises immense concern about the integrity of the justice system, as the fact that Epstein was able to manipulate the system and evade justice for so long proves there is work that needs to be done to truly keep the law neutral and impartial for everyone. The social or financial status of an individual should not influence the treatment they receive from the criminal justice system, yet the system continuously fails to ensure all citizens get equal and just treatment under the law which is proved through this case and only exemplifies the power dynamics and biases that favour the influential and rich of
A plea bargain is a compromise between defense attorneys and the prosecution on behalf of the defendant. In an effort to avoid a long and costly court trial, the prosecution offers a sentence, in exchange, the defendant agrees to plead guilty and receives a reduction in charges and/or a lesser sentence. Plea bargains are commonplace, 90% of criminal cases are resolved with the use of plea bargaining (book). Established in the 1970's in Brady v. the United States, the legal foundation and constitutionality of plea bargaining has been debated. While there have been many critics of plea bargaining, there have also been many that support the court systems use of plea bargaining.
Those who support plea bargaining say the greatest benefit of plea bargaining "is the savings in time and expense to the parties, the court, and the public" (Plea Bargaining). Another benefit claimed by those who are in favor of plea bargaining is "that docket pressures are too great and that prosecutors lack the time to pursue all indictments because there are simply too many" (Dever). Plea bargains aren’t perfect, though. In addition to these advantages, there are exploitations in the process that usually harm the defendant. The opponents of plea bargaining state that "the process may result in waivers by defendants of their constitutional rights, unequal representation by counsel, the threat of unequal sentencing, and the possibility that guilty pleas will be entered by innocent defendants" (Plea Bargaining).
People plead guilty for crimes that are not committed by them to avoid trial, but by doing so the right decision wasn’t made.
There are a few things that can be pinpointed as lawful but unethical, especially within law enforcement. The prison system in the United States has a lot of issue that needs to be addressed, but one issue that really bothered me and is unethical is the manner in which the criminal justice system is using the incarceration of the people to finance law enforcement. For example, in Missouri to incarcerate an inmate in prison it cost $60.66 a day per inmate and for inmates in county it cost about $25 a day per inmate. So, in the state of Missouri what they are doing is transferring prisoners to County and paying County the $25 to house those inmates and rather than return the money saved to the people, Missouri
Plea-Bargaining and its Impact on the Criminal Justice System Introduction The criminal justice system is made to give the punishment to the accused according to the law. Those communities who have a fair justice system usually get success and equality among all the citizens. There are many procedures which are used to settle down the matters between the defender and prosecutor side. Some are related to the justice procedures and others are used to settle down matter outside the courts like plea- bargaining.
The three basic types of plea bargains: the first one is where the defendant may be allowed to plead guilty to a lesser charge; the second is one is, at the request of the prosecutor, a defendant that pleads guilty may receive a lighter sentence than they would if not requested; and thirdly a defendant may plead guilty to one charge in exchange for the prosecutor’s willingness to drop other charges that could be brought. There are three factors that will cause a prosecutor to decide on a plea bargain, they are the seriousness of the offense, the defendant’s criminal history, and how strong of a case the prosecutor has. Plea bargains serve interest to just about everyone that is involved. Plea bargaining serves the interest of all court’s
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.
Plea bargaining raises concerns about the risk of innocent people being wrongfully convicted if they’re persuaded to accept a plea
Many people hear and read about criminal trails but the reality is “97 percent of convictions in federal courts were the results of guilty pleas” (Liptak). Liptak explains how criminal justice system is not made up of trials “criminal justice today is for the most part a system of pleas, not a system of trials” (Liptak). Defendants rather negotiate plea bargains instead of fighting their case. In order to get a plea you must make an agreement between the defendant and prosecuting attorney. These agreements reduce the number of trials and help lawyers focus on other cases.
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