Pros And Cons Of Plea Bargaining

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.

There are many issues associated with plea bargaining. The accused could benefit with the possibility of a reduced or combined charges, reduced attorney fees, and the chance of a reduced or shorter sentence that may be imposed by going to trial. Plea bargaining can also give the prosecutors the ability to convict the accused even if they have a weak case and there is question whether or not they can get a conviction. It also will save time and resources necessary for trial. This will apply to defense attorneys as well, they may be unsure of their ability to get an acquittal for their client; however, in some cases the accused many know in his heart that he is innocent and want to go to trial.

In this case, how do we reconcile the benefits of plea bargaining with the importance of justice? Our criminal justice system is a system where “95% of criminal defendants plead guilty to the charges against them” whether they are guilty or not (pg 11).

Prosecutors benefit from plea bargaining because it enables them to secure high conviction rates while avoiding the expense, uncertainty, and opportunity costs of trials. By obtaining guilty pleas, prosecutors can pursue more cases, potentially resulting in greater aggregate deterrent or incapacitative effects with a finite amount of resources. Overloadded courts also benefit from plea bargains and why its common. The US Supreme court has recognized plea bargain as necessary for excessive courts. ”Our office keeps the courtrooms busy trying 5 percent of the cases, if even 10 percent end in a trial the system would break down”( Zimring and Frase,1980:506).

If there wasn't any plea bargaining, courts would be overcrowded and forced to be shut down. It is an advantage for the defense since it will be less work required on their part (Tapscott, 2017). Because plea bargains are much quicker and require less work, it keeps the cases moving and courtrooms unclogged. This works for both prosecutor and defendant since the case would close quickly allowing them to move on to bigger, serious cases. The benefit of agreeing to a plea bargain is that it de clogs the courts and the overcrowded jails.

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.

For the defendant, the most significant benefit to plea bargaining is to take away the uncertainty of a criminal trial and to avoid the maximum sentence. Society also benefits from plea bargaining since the agreements lessen court congestion and free up prosecutors to handle more cases. The Cons of Plea

Here is the first problem that needs to be addressed, the Sixth Amendment, “In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial…” only thing fast are plea bargains, but they are surely not fair. The problem is we need plea bargains, because if not then we be having court cases running 24/7, and one judge would be hearing 100 cases a day. This is why plea bargains account for roughly 90% of all criminal cases. Here are three reasons why plea bargains are supposed to be in

In our country, the judicial system, being fair and powerful is still very slow. It has always been very crowded. Since the courts are over crowded, prosecutor’s case-loads are over loaded and defendants wants to save time and money, as the result of which an informal and easy way of pre-trail bargaining came into play. Its is known as Plea-Bargaining. Plea Bargaining is defined as the agreement between the prosecutor and the defendant, whereby the defendant agrees to his or her guilt of crime that has been committed in return for some concession from the prosecutor.

Some of the pros include, plea bargaining assists the state and the court to deal with loads of cases presented to them. It also reduces the prosecutors’ work load by leaving the minor charges to settle through and give them the opportunity to work ahead of the more serious cases. It also enables for a less time-consuming and expensive trial as it restructures the accused to agree to the blame and submit themselves to the law voluntarily, giving the judging panel less time to come up with a verdict. In addition to that, plea bargaining also helps to deal away with the trial’s uncertainty.

One of the best quotes I found on the motivations behind the use of plea bargains comes from former President Jimmy Carter, in which he points out that “In many courts, plea‐bargaining serves the convenience or the judge and lawyers, not the ends of justice, because the courts lack the time to give everyone a fair trial,” (“Excerpts from Carter’s Speech to the Bar Association,” 1978). The plea bargaining system is convenient, not just. Plea bargains are not negotiated for the best interest of the defendants, but for the prosecutors and judges looking to funnel cases out of the courthouse as quickly as possible. This lack of care for the defendant obviously leads to mistakes. Eighteen percent “of known exonerees pleaded guilty to crimes they didn’t commit,” (Why Innocent People Are Pleading Guilty, 2018).

Plea bargaining is a tool often utilized during the adjudication process that serves several different purposes for all parties involved. The definition of a plea bargain, according to Frank Schmalleger, is: “The process of negotiating an agreement among the defendant, the prosecutor, and the court as to an appropriate plea and associated sentence in a given case. Plea bargaining circumvents the trial process and dramatically reduces the time required for the resolution of a criminal case” (Schmalleger, 2016, p.233). With plea bargaining, not only is the defendant offered an alternative to going to trial, but the defense is spared the strenuous process of producing enough substantial evidence to potentially get a conviction. The court is

Prosecutors have the power to send offenders away which allows them to make harsh decisions. They offer plea bargains to offenders which often will enable them to do time in prison. Pfaff stated that "as long as prosecutors simply use the tough laws as a bargaining chip, not real punishment, legislators can reap the political benefits of looking tough on crime while avoiding difficult financial decisions" (Pfaff, 2017, P136). Prosecutors offer a plea bargain to get rid of cases quickly and not allow offenders to go to trial because they might receive more prison

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.

What is Plea Bargaining? Plea bargaining is a common practice in the criminal justice system that results in most criminal convictions. Plea Bargaining can happen from charging a defendant to before a verdict is attained. Normally, it involves a negotiation between the prosecutor and defense attorney to arrive at a bargain, which can lead to reduced charges and a shorter sentence.