Plea bargain is an agreement between the prosecutor and defendant where the prosecutor offers the accused to plead guilty to a lesser sentence or to only one of several charges without going to court. What percentage of cases in Harris County are the result of a plea bargain?
Defendants asked for leniency and the prosecutor offers a deal and they take it because they are tired of sitting in jail, but few realize that by taking
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).
Marcus J. Paulus 2/14/2018 Plea Paper Plea Paper The plea bargain is necessary part of our justice system. This is because of the vast number of cases our justice system has to deal with each year it would be almost impossible to take all these cases to court each year. Plea bargains give people the chance to reduced there sentence by admitting they committed the crime or a less crime in order for the prosecutor to get a guilty verdict. The plea bargain process is supposed to be introduced to the discussion but they prosecutor and not the defendant.
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.
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
A plea bargain is an agreement between the prosecutor and the defendant in a criminal case. The prosecutor gives the defendant the opportunity to plead guilty to a lesser charge or to the original charge with less than the maximum sentence. For example, the prosecution and the defense may agree to a misdemeanor charge instead of a felony charge or the parties may agree to a sentence of 12 years instead of 20 years if the recommended sentence for that crime is 10-20 years imprisonment.
Plea Bargaining is the most effective tool of prosecutors to minimize the time required to obtain convictions. Around ninety percent of cases are concluded using plea bargaining. (Barkan and Bryjack, Page 2) This process moves cases through the system quickly and prevents the need to add more judges and court systems if these cases were to go to trial. (Barkan and Bryjack, Page 249) From the judge and prosecutors point of view, this is a necessary and effective method of managing caseloads.
In addition to the narrowly drawn remedy, the PLRA also issues that remedies must embody the “least intrusive means necessary to correct the violation of the Federal right meaning that no other relief is available.” The PLRA requires courts to seriously consider adverse impacts on items such as public safety or the general operation of the criminal justice system when determining the mode of relief. For example, in this case, the release of 46,000 prisoners could place citizens in danger. The placement of indicted criminals, who were, according to their sentence, supposed to remain within the prison system, back into society could be detrimental and result in safety issues. Additionally, the release of such prisoners could impact the operation or general integrity of the criminal justice system.
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
Plea bargaining should be allowed in the court system. This is because the plea bargains are quick which saves time in court. It also saves the expenses of the state. It is easier to just admit to the case to receive the lesser sentence. There also might be some added information that could lead to locating missing people, remains of a victim or kidnapping victims.
Prosecutors have the very important job of representing the people in a court of law on both state and federal levels. Prosecutors are under obligation to execute the law on both federal and state levels. However, the discretion that they are afforded under United States law gives them nearly absolute and unreviewable powers to choose whether or not to bring forth criminal charges, and also what charges to bring for cases when the evidence is enough to those justify charges. Plea bargaining is another area in which falls under a prosecutor’s vast discretionary powers, they can choose to bring full charges against the defendant or they can choose to show leniency by reducing the charges or dismissing the charges altogether. The incredible amount of discretion that prosecutors have in the criminal justice system places them
There are cases stacked upon cases that must be attended to daily, while at the same time, crimes are being committed. The court system has trouble keeping up, and in order to cease long, drawn out trials, plea bargaining has been allowed in the criminal justice system. This is useful for both criminally charge individuals along with the courts themselves for several reasons. Most people know the case going on with Jared Fogle, the former representor of Subway. In 2015, Fogle decided to plead guilty to child pornography charges along with crossing state lines to exchange money for sex with a minor (Castillo, 2015).
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.
