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The Pros And Cons Of Plea Bargain

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“The practice of plea bargaining never really took hold in most other countries, where it was viewed as a kind of “devil’s pact” that allowed guilty defendants to avoid the full force of the law.” (Rakoff, 2014). When we look at a crime that was committed, we would hope that the perpetrator get the highest prison sentence that they can get. However, that is not the case here in the United States. The United States Constitution 6th Amendment states that “...the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial…” This is interpreted for trials to be quick, however, this can be both good and bad. The United States court system has a plea bargain deal that can be considered as quick trial, and it is considered constitutional. Plea Bargain is defined by Merriam Webster Dictionaries as, …show more content…

Either the side of the prosecutor or defense attorney may begin negotiations over a proposed plea bargain. The American Bar Association, one of the world’s largest voluntary professional organization committed to supporting the legal profession, states that, “Many plea bargains are subject to the approval of the court, but some may not be (e.g., prosecutors may be able to drop charges without court approval in exchange for a "guilty" plea to a lesser offense).” (American Bar Association, 2017). As we can see here, in order to get a “guilty” plea from the defendant, the prosecutor may propose a lesser charge, and this results in the unjust side of our system because we are supposed to be sentencing criminals on their crimes, not what is the best way to make them say yes. Also, this plea bargain used to happen in private between the prosecutor, attorney, defendant, and judge, but now, victims’ rights are making it so that the victim can have an input. (American Bar Association, 2017). However, this negotiation will still lead to a less sentence charge for the defendant, which is

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