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Pros And Cons Of Plea Bargain

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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. Well, take a look at some of the arguments presented on both sides.
To begin, many people have been opposed to plea bargaining since the conception of its use in the 1970s. One argument presented is that plea bargaining corrupts our justice system by offering leniency to criminals. compromising with criminals, some people feel that justice is not being handed down. Secondly. Another argument presented is that plea bargains increase the chance for innocent defendants to be sentenced due to fear of being convicted to trial. In addition, those …show more content…

Supporters argue that plea bargains reduce the strain and financial cost of our court system. Considering that that majority of criminal cases are resolved with the use of plea bargain, these additional cases if not bargain would lead congestion in the court system and force the courts to be backlogged for months, possibly even years. The additional cases that would need to be brought to trial would tremendous increase financial burden on our court system. Furthermore, pleas bargains assist the prosecution in other cases. By offering defendants plea bargains for testifying against a co-defendant, prosecutors can ensure the success of larger

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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.

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Criminal trials are not perfect, but by requiring evidence beyond a reasonable doubt, they can prevent several miscarriages of justice. Considering that innocent individuals may arrive at trial for misidentification, police misconduct or simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time, these individuals are at a disadvantage since by being offered plea deals they avoid trial and avoid the burden of “ beyond a reasonable doubt,” required to be pronounced guilty. Thus, in a CJ system saturated with cases, plea bargains become a mechanism for prosecutors and defense attorneys to bypass trials. For defendants, the fear of incarceration and the unpredictability of juries or judges create the conditions of coercion that might persuade defendants to prefer plea deals over

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Plea bargaining is an unethical practice because it can force innocent men to plead guilty, defense lawyers often can't see the evidence in time to advise their client, and it lets criminals get away with a lighter sentence than they should. The innocent pleading guilty The concept of an innocent man pleading guilty was far fetched in 19941. Which is truly surprising.

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Plea bargain is an ethical issue stated in the documentary Plea bargain. The plea bargain documentary explains how pleading guilty in a plea bargain is a way to get a reduced sentence or get out free of a charge. At times taking the plea bargain might not be the best option but sometimes it’s the only choice. According to the prongs of deontological perspective, pleading guilty is a solution to be let out free, a reduced charge and dismissed a charge off.

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Legally, there is no valid answer to that question, a fact, which is demonstrated by the following quote from Bordenkircher. “[W]hatever might be the situation in an ideal world, the fact is that the guilty plea and the often concomitant plea bargain are important components of this country's criminal justice system.” In other words, the legal system depends on plea bargaining and plea bargaining depends on the ability of prosecutors to threaten defendants. Consequently, the Court’s reasoning is not based on a legal foundation, but a practical one. Regardless of how essential plea bargaining may be to the functioning of the judicial system, “implementation of a strategy calculated solely to deter the exercise of constitutional rights is not a constitutionally permissible exercise of discretion” There are many practices which would make the criminal justice system function more efficiently.

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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.

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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.

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A defense lawyer who has a heavy workload may persuade the criminal defendant to take the plea, which gives up an important constitutional right, a right to trial, in order to close many cases that he or she may be currently handling as swiftly as possible. Plea bargaining can also stir up ethical issues since criminal defendants can get off too easily with deductions in sentencing. Once a bargain for a reduced sentence is given, the victim may not be too fond of this adjustment from the original charge. The victim and their family could feel as if the justice system failed them, especially if the criminal defendant did not receive the punishment that they

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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.

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Plea bargaining is essential to the efficient function of the criminal justice system, where such agreements can conserve judicial and prosecutorial resources and offer defendants alternatives to trial. Plea agreements accomplish this by allowing defendants to plead guilty in exchange for certain benefits, which then reduces the amount of cases going to court. When fewer cases go to trial, resources can be allocated so that more serious cases can be tried in court, while lesser offenses can be resolved quickly through a plea, allowing often overworked judges and prosecutors to devote less time to individual cases, and complete more cases within a given time period. In contrast, if all cases went to court it would be infeasible to devote

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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.

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Plea bargains are beneficial to the prosecution because it reduces the overall costs of the criminal prosecution, devotes more time to serious cases, the administrative efficiency of the courts is greatly improved, and recourses can be devoted to cases that need greater attention. The defendant also avoids possible detention and an extended trial and may receive a reduced sentence. I believe that the defendant benefits more from a plea bargain because it would create a better outcome for them in the long run. I think we should only allow plea bargains for misdemeanors. Murders and other serious offenders should not be allowed this right to help their future.

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Plea bargaining raises concerns about the risk of innocent people being wrongfully convicted if they’re persuaded to accept a plea

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Since the courts are backlogged and many public defenders and judges being overworked, this causes plea bargaining to be used repeatedly. According to Walker et al. (2018), plea bargaining leaves many people no option but to plea guilty even when this is not their best option. This is due to a multitude of reasons but mainly to receive a lesser charge. For example, a felony and little time in jail may be better than risking multiple felonies and an excessive amount of time in jail.

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Hopefully, plea bargaining may help in alleviating this kind of challenges in the legal system. However, in countries that have not previously used plea bargains, this kind of reform which is new in our legal system should be carefully taken into consideration in the overall context of the existing criminal

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