Plea bargaining is an arrangement between a prosecutor and a defendant whereby the defendant pleads guilty to a lesser charge in the expectation of leniency. 97 percent of federal cases end in plea bargains as well as 94 percent of state cases. Although they are beneficial in their own ways plea bargains are very controversial. Some people don’t believe it is the most effective way to sentence someone because some people see a plea bargain as someone getting off easy. If the defendant pleads guilty before the trial it saves a lot of time and money, but it can go from a life sentence to a fifteen-year sentence. It takes a lot more time to complete a trial then to negotiate a deal to sentence the defendant. It benefits all sides of the case, defendant and system, in different ways. The defendant gets a shorter sentence, and it’s also cheaper for the defendant because the fee for an attorney usually increases if the case goes to trial. The benefits for the justice system are not going to trail means less money spent, and if the defendant has a public defender this can help decrease his work load. But this is very controversial in a lot of people’s eyes. …show more content…
People believe if you do the crime you do the time, so if someone is being accused of murder they get life, there shouldn’t be a way around it. If there weren’t any plea bargains the courts would shut down because of how many cases they would have to look over. People also fail to realize that innocent people also plea guilty just to do the small time and not have to go through the whole trail process, people also fail to realize that plea bargains give second chances to people who were going to receive harsh sentencing. People just believe criminals are getting off with a slap on the wrist with plea