Plea Bargain Research Paper

In today's era, when a criminal is charged for various crimes their given a shortcut to justice by simply accepting a plea deal. In this case, Larry Servedio faces multiple felonies: first-degree kidnapping, first-degree rape, third-degree rape, third-degree criminal sexual act, third-degree criminal mischief, criminal impersonation, second-degree grand larceny, and second-degree strangulation. Servedio was also indicted for several misdemeanor charges: first-degree harassment, second-degree aggravated harassment, second-degree menacing and torturing and injuring an animal. If Mr. Servedio goes to trial and is able to prove his innocence of the charges pressed against him, then he is a free man and all charges get dropped. Yet, if Mr. Servedio

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. The defendants utilize plea bargaining rather than continuing to the trial process. (Alschuler, 1979)

Plea- bargaining is something that is happening in our court systems every day. Plea-bargaining is a choice that defendants are making when they don’t have many options. Can plea- bargains change your life? What effects will it have if you decide to do a plea? Well, plea bargains are not for everyone.

If you could take a deal that would swap your prison sentence from 20 to 16 years even if you were guilty would you? What if you and the defense lawyer didn’t know what the evidence was yet. What if the prosecutor said you can either take the deal or you can go away for as long as i can get? These occur in the plea bargaining system. 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.

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. However, going to trial can be risky because it is impossible to predict what a jury will decide. Therefore, many defendants choose to enter a plea bargain agreement with the prosecution.

In this journal article, the author talks about how the three in the West Memphis case were released. 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. Eventually, the book ends by offering some piece of advice to judges in order to prevent similar injustices in the

People of all different races and ethnicities are locked behind bars because they have been convicted of committing a crime and they are paying for the consequences. When looking at the racial composition of a prison in the United States, it does not mimic the population. This is because some races and ethnicities are over represented in the correctional system in the U.S. (Walker, Spohn, & DeLone, 2018). According Walker et al. (2018), African-Americans/Blacks make up less than fifteen percent of the U.S. population, while this race has around thirty-seven percent of the population in the correctional system today. Along with African-American/Blacks, the Hispanic population is underrepresented at both the state and federal levels while the Caucasian/White population are underrepresented (Walker, Spohn, & DeLone, 2018).

To be a privileged Caucasian male in America is to be found guilty of three counts of sexual assault and receive a recommended sentence of six years out of the maximum fourteen that these crimes carry. Brock Turner is the privileged student of Stanford University that ended up being sentenced to only six months out of the six years but, only served a brief ninety days in county jail. People vs. Turner features young college student Brock turner and his crimes of sexual assault against an unconscious ‘Jane Doe’ behind a garage dumpster. Although physical and eyewitness testimony concluded that Jane Doe was unconscious during the time of the assault and for the following hours, Brock Turner stated the encounters were consensual. As the case unraveled

Brian Banks was wrongfully convicted of rape because he chooses to take a plea deal, which was the lesser sentence then spending 41 years in prison. “The plea bargain a prosecutor will strike generally depends on three factors and in this case, the two factors was the seriousness of the offense and the strength of the prosecutor's case” (pg 307). The evidence was mounted against Mr. Banks because they had a key witness, Ms. Wanetta Gibson. Mr. Banks was “not served by the practice of plea bargaining because he was innocent” (pg 308). He “was in fear of being found guilty of a crime he did not commit and receiving a harsh sentence” (pg 208). 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).

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. People plead guilty for crimes that are not committed by them to avoid trial, but by doing so the right decision wasn’t made.

Plea bargaining is the negotiations between prosecutors and defense lawyers on how to resolve criminal charges (Fagin pg.177). The defendant carries the guilty plea in return for a reduction sentence or dismissal of some charges. Estimates state that 97% of federal cases have used this method without ever going to trial (Fagin pg.177). Once all sides agree, the actual sentencing is completely up to the judge, not the lawyers. The judge is not bound to follow the prosecution’s recommendation. There are generally three types of plea bargains used in the justice system. Charge bargaining, the most common form of plea bargaining, sentence bargaining and fact bargaining (Plea Bargains: In Depth,2017). Plea bargaining can have its

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. Luckily, it is known what causes wrongful convictions and how to fix them.

The positive of the guilty plea is a controversial aspect of the criminal justice systems. He helps to solves the cases faster, speed up legal procedures, eliminate the number of cases in the court. Save time and money to the government. In addition, reduce the number of people in prisons. People who accepted plea bargaining, some of them get a probation, and can go home. But they not able to pay their fines.

The U.S. criminal justice system should not be allowed to used jailhouse snitches or informants, because this is at a disadvantage to defendants. This practice should not be eligible to be used for all types of crimes. To see justice done in any country, one must make sure that everyone gets a fair and impartial trial out of the system. If we disagree with prosecutors using snitches, then defense attorneys will be held up to the standards as well. If the defendant is innocent, defense attorneys need not to be worry to pay for testimony from jail inmates. Snitch testimony will be more reliable if it is being recorded without edits and not only jury decides if the testimony is valid. Eliminate or limit rewards for testimony, corroborate testimony

Alford plea – When a defendant neither wants to admit full guilt, nor do they want to plead no contest or innocent, there is yet another possible option. If a defendant wants to assert that they are indeed innocent, but they know that the prosecution has enough evidence to prove that they committed the crime they are being charged for, they can enter an “Alford plea,” which is also known as a “Kennedy plea” in West Virginia. Essentially, this plea is a guilty plea, not because of an admission to the crime, but because the prosecutor has enough evidence to obtain a conviction in court.