Arguments Against Plea Bargaining

The author looks at the time period that the three were released and discusses the reason for their release, which is Alford plea. In this case, the defendant is voluntarily forced to plead guilty while still proclaiming his or her innocence. The author also looks at the evidence and ends up concluding that that there was little evidence that linked the defendants to the murder. In addition, the author criticizes the state’s government for forcing the men to plead guilty. Using another case, the author looks into this matter by examining the flaws related to the Alford’s plea.

In fact the Supreme Court of Illinois established the Commission on Professionalism to promote among lawyers and judge of Illinois principles of integrity, professionalism and civility: to foster commitment to the elimination of bias and divisiveness within the legal and judicial system; and to ensure that those systems provide equitable, effective and efficient resolution of problems and disputes for the people of Illinois. (Rule 799(a). Then going out in the real world seeing it happen, first hand. All I can say is I have been an apart of this great Commission for seven year and we have a lot of work to

"If the Defendant confesses to the defense attorney in the hallway this morning, the defense attorney’s job is still to do the best job he can to defend him. " This was an attempt to try and sway the jury into looking down upon the defense attorney, which will still defend their client, even if they know they are guilty. I believe that whether or not the client confesses his guilt or not, the defense attorney should still do everything to spare his client, just like how the prosecution will try everything legally possible to try and get a

• Plea-bargaining weakens the criminal justice system with the concept that if all cases went to trial the court system would be unable to support the workload. This is a factor that can be disputed by jurisdictions that have ban plea bargaining and continued to operate appropriately. Plea-bargaining is known as the agreement in a criminal court proceeding that is made between a defendant and a prosecutor. Plea bargains typically involve a lesser sentence in return for an omission of wrongdoing. Plea bargains do not forsake the criminal justice system, however they do allow for a speedy exit strategy for prosecutors.

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.

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).

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.

Sometimes, the best strategy for a drug crime defense attorney is to negotiate a plea bargain. A plea bargain is an agreement between the defense and prosecution, in which the defendant agrees to plead guilty in exchange for reduced charges or a more lenient sentence. This strategy may be appropriate if the evidence against the defendant is strong, or if there is a risk of a harsh sentence if the case goes to trial. Presenting Mitigating Factors

These lawyers can sometimes be swayed with money and argue points that would not always hold up well in court. Points such as Couch having a “diminished sense of responsibility,” however, are presented in a way that would have anyone believe that they are logical. On the other hand, those with less money are appointed public defenders. These lawyers do not always have their clients best interests at heart because they are either handling many cases at once or they are not being paid as much as the private defenders. Either way, people with less money have a greater chance of ending up with a more severe sentence than those who have money that can buy their way out of certain

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.

4 Criticism and Challenges The first point of criticism against victim participation in restorative justice processes arises from scepticism about an apology to the victim as a way of dealing with criminal matters. The perception sometimes exists as to it simply being a way to get away with the crime.106 Members of the public should thus be educated to understand that restorative justice is more than a mere saying sorry, but in the context of victim offender mediation or family group conferences it rather affords the victim the opportunity to confront the child offender with the real and human cost of his or her criminal actions. Another concern deals with the possible secondary victimisation of the victim in the case where the offender pretends

With millions of criminal convictions a year, more than two million people may end up behind bars(Gross). According to Samuel Gross reporter for The Washington Post, writes that also “even one percent amounts to tens of thousands of tragic [wrongful conviction] errors”(Gross). Citizens who are wrongfully convicted are incarcerated for a crime he or she did not commit. Many police officers, prosecutors, and judges are responsible for the verdict that puts innocents into prison. To be able to get exonerated many wait over a decade just to get there case looked at, not many are able to have the opportunity of getting out.

The biggest issue within the Criminal Justice system is the large number of wrongful convictions, innocent people sentenced to die for crimes they did not commit. People are put in prison for years, even executed for false convictions. This affects not only those put in prison but friends and family of the accused. Wrongful convictions aren’t solely a tragedy for those directly involved either. It weakens the faith the public has for the justice system as well as poses safety issues; when innocent people are put away, the real criminals are still out there.

Today our justice system has a multitude of options when dealing with those who are convicted of offenses. However, many argue that retributive justice is the only real justice there is. This is mainly because its advantage is that it gives criminals the appropriate punishment that they deserve. The goals of this approach are clear and direct. In his book The Little Book of Restorative Justice, Zehr Howard (2002), illustrates that the central focus of retributive justice is offenders getting what they deserve (p. 30).

Some of the defenders had two or three cases in the same courtroom. Many of the defendants were minorities and it seems like they were not able to afford a private lawyer. While many public defendants are very good some of them have so much work that they can’t dedicate enough time in to each case and this is one of the reasons why I saw so many defendants pleading guilty in court. Many of the public defendants I observed today looked like they were just ready to finish this case and move on to the next one. I feel like this is a big issue because they make tempting offers to defendants and they take the plea without really understanding the