Plea Bargaining In Jails

Ever since the first prison opened in the United States in 1790, incarceration has been the center of the nations criminal justice system. Over this 200 year period many creative alternatives to incarceration have been tried, and many at a much lower cost than imprisonment. It wasn’t until the late 1980’s when our criminal justice systems across the country began experiencing a problem with overcrowding of facilities. This problem forced lawmakers to develop new options for sentencing criminal offenders.

Over the years plea bargaining has become the way for the Administration of Justice in America and Canada’s criminal trials. Accused criminals are giving up the rights to a fair trial, to indeed plead guilty, in order to receive a much lesser charge, more comfortable prison, or even to agree to testify against someone else. Fewer than ten percent of criminal cases brought up by the federal government even make it to the federal courts to be tried before juries each year. “According to one legal scholar, every two seconds during a typical workday, a criminal case is disposed of in an American courtroom by way of a guilty plea or nolo contendere plea” (Lynch, par. 1). Which ultimately means more than ninety percent of criminal cases are

According to Timothy Sandefur’s In Defense of Plea Bargaining article, “a plea bargain is a contract with the state. The defense agrees to plead guilty to a lesser crime and receive a lesser sentence, rather than go to trial on a more severe charge where he faces the possibility of a harsher sentence.” We are also told in The New York Times Article; Federal Law on Sentencing is Unjust, Judge Rules that “about 97 percent of federal criminal convictions nationwide were the result of plea bargains.”

In all, plea bargaining serves various functions; nonetheless, the main purpose of plea bargaining is to improve “the administrative efficiency of the courts” (Wheatley 1974 in Goff, 2014, pg. 261). For instance, with plea bargaining, the courts can quickly garner a plea of guilty, and thus, a sentence can be provided for the accused, rather than attempt to prove the guilt or innocence of the accused beyond a reasonable doubt. In addition, Ken Chasse (2011) identifies other advantages of plea bargaining such as cost-saving, no consequences for violating the law and constitutional rights by the courts since the matters of plea bargaining are not reviewable (pg. 1). Furthermore, the “sentence can be known beforehand… [, and thus,] victims can be consulted more precisely about the outcome before sentence is imposed”, disclosure and discovery will not be known, “no trial errors” or reversals of the outcome by appeal courts, and both sides can also claim victory (Chasse, 2011, pg. 1).

In this paper, I will discuss what is plea bargaining, the benefits, controversy, requirements, and roles of actors. Plea bargaining Is an agreement between a defendant and a prosecutor, in which the defendant agrees to plead guilty in exchange for an agreement by the prosecutor to drop one or more serious charges, reduce the charge to a less offense, or recommend to the judge a specific sentence. The benefits of plea bargaining are the following.

The federal prison system has become an increasingly populated place. With an approximate 91% conviction rate in the federal criminal system,1 with 97% of all cases entering a plea of guilty prior to trial,2 and over 90% of those convictions resulting in a sentence of incarceration,3 imprisonments are a nearly unavoidable part of a criminal defendant ‘s experience in the federal system. According to statistics by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the law enforcement agency responsible

In the United States, plea bargaining seems to determine the fate of criminal defendants, rather that trials. This is true in federal cases, but specifically in drug cases. An estimated three percent of federal drug defendants actually go to trial (Fellner). Also, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, 50% of inmates are in federal prison for drug offenses. Of those in prison for drug offenses, evidence has shown that “defendants convicted of drug offenses with mandatory minimum sentences who went to trial received sentences on average 11 years longer than those who pled guilty (215 versus 82.5 months)” (Fellner). Harsh sentences for drug offenses has fueled climbing federal prison population since the anti-drug effort began in the mid-1980s.

Mandatory sentencing has been a big driver in the large population of incarcerated individuals in the United States. District attorneys are more aggressive in how they file charges against the arrestee. While the country has seen a decline in crime, new

Over the last decade the prison population in the United States has increased but the total admissions has decreased. In 2004, the national statistics for the prison population showed 1,497,100 persons to be incarcerated from Federal Institutions to State Institutions. Ten years later in 2014, the prison population increased to 1,562,525. This increase in population is not as dramatic when it comes to comparing 2004 and 2014. However, comparing 2014 to 1978 there is a tremendous increase in population, the total population in 1978 was 307, 276. From the war on drugs to the increase numbers of homicides, in 36 years we have incarcerated over one million additional people. In one year, the justice system admitted 631,

Despite the fact that many people believe that the criminal justice system is similar to TV crime shows like CSI, Criminal Minds, and Law and Order, the real criminal justice system does not work in such a way as it portrays in these shows. For example, on these crime shows, most cases get solved and are brought to justice via a court trial. Nonetheless, in reality many cases are solved in a plea bargain. Plea bargaining is one of the most controversial issues in the United States. The practice of plea bargaining is necessary due to fact of the high crime rates, and lacking facilities and staffs to try all cases. First of all, let’s find out what is the plea bargaining? Plea bargaining is an arrangement between a prosecutor and a defendant

Additionally, the last topic for discussion regarding negatives and plea-bargaining is the pressure crown attorneys put on defendants into accepting plea deals. The criminal justice system includes complex procedures that many people who have not had experience within the system find confusing. This may cause trouble for the defendant who is being offered a deal. Defendants may feel pressured as shown in Smith (1986) study, “ a series of threats and promises by legal officials that induce defendants to forfeit many of their legal rights and plead guilty” (p. 949). As mentioned before, every person is innocent until proven guilty and offered a fair trial to do so.

The plea bargain is a vital part of the criminal justice system today. Before the 1800s when an offender was caught there would be a trial and verdict. The plea bargain are for defendant 's to plead guilty to a lesser offense or to at least one charge especially if there are multiple indictments. Defendants will plead guilty in hopes of leniency, and at least 90 percent of criminal cases end in a plea bargains. A majority of criminal cases in many jurisdictions will end in a plea bargaining.

Plea bargaining is an obstruction of justice and truth in stories presented by Frontline. The relevant actors of the courthouse including the judges, the prosecutor, and the defense attorneys use plea bargaining as a way to get cases of the docket, to punish all guilty defendants in any way possible, and to reduce time spent on the cases. It seems every one of the defendants interviewed by Frontline were given only one way out from the trouble they were in. In order to go home to their families or in order not to risk receiving a harsher sentence from the judge or jury at the trial, they ended up pleading guilty to all the charges laid out in front of them to get a lighter sentence.

Plea-bargains in criminal cases should not be used as much as they in today’s justice system because their drawbacks outweigh their benefits.

Plea bargaining is becoming progressively popular over time passes there are many prisoners that have decided to go the route of accepting plea deals. Plea bargaining is referred to a situation where the prosecutor and the defendant arises to an agreement whereby the defendant pleads guilty to a case so that he or she can be given a concession or a lesser sentence. Plea bargains often occur after a careful analysis and acknowledgment of the strengths and weaknesses of a case.