The title of the movie watched is A Few Good Men and it was obtained at 123movies.gs. Its major characters are Lt. Daniel Kaffee, Lt. Commander JoAnne Galloway, Colonel Nathan R. Jessep, and Lance Corporal Harold Dawson. Five themes that the movie dramatically displayed were how plea deals were done, the respect judges get, the responsibilities of a judge, the responsibilities of a defense attorney, and it also showed very little of what a bailiff does in the courtroom. Over 90% of convictions are from negotiated guilty pleas. They help avoid court and a lot of paperwork lawyers may have to do which gives them more time to focus on cases that are bigger and more serious. In the movie, Captain West stated to Lt. Commander Galloway, “…I’m sure it’ll boil down to a five-minute plea bargain and a week’s worth of paper work.” No one expected the case to make it to court. Plea bargaining does not take place in a court room; it can take place at a restaurant, a game, the lawyers can meet at their houses, and many other places. Lieutenant Kaffee made plea deals while he was playing baseball. Since many cases get plea deals many lawyers do not see the court room often. Forty-four plea bargains were done by Lt. Kaffee in nine months and he had not once seen the inside of a courtroom until the case that takes place in the movie. Even though plea deals have its advantages, problems can arise from it such as the defendants not wanting a deal, one defendant in the movie did not want one,
People have long debated whether plea bargaining is the best way to handle felony cases in the justice system. This article focuses on a reformed, institutionalized way to plea bargain. The author researches the King County Prosecutors rationalized approach to the way the Early Plea Unit handles their cases.
It all starts with backed up courtrooms. A man is charged with killing another man. There is no evidence to convict this man of these charges. This leads the prosecutors to work out a plea-bargain. The pressure of other cases and the need for a guilty charge is what leads plea-bargaining to happen more every year. As a result many criminals get off easy and in return prosecutors look good for winning the case.
More than 90 percent of criminal convictions come from negotiated pleas, also known as, plea bargaining. Plea bargains are used every day at both the federal and state court level. They certainly have their “proponents” as well as their “opponents”. A plea bargain basically is any agreement in a criminal case between the prosecutor and defendant whereby the defendant agrees to plead guilty to a particular charge in return for some concession from the prosecutor. That agreement is usually in the form of a defendant pleading guilty to a “lesser” crime with a reduced sentence in return for the prosecuting authority not having to expend the time, energy, expense and manpower in seeking a conviction in a trial of a more serious charge. An evaluation of the evidence against the defendant is usually a significant factor by the prosecutor in determining whether or not a plea bargain should be offered. If the prosecutor’s case is strong, the chances of a plea bargain being offered to the defendant are lessened. While at the same time, if the prosecutor feels that his evidence is on the weaker side, the probability of a plea bargain being offered is enhanced.
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.
In this movie, A Few Good Men, there are five major characters: Defense Attorney Daniel Kaffee, Lieutenant Commander JoAnne Galloway, Sam Weinberg, Prosecutor Jack Ross, and Colonel Nathan Jessup. There are two other characters that aren’t major characters, but they are rather important. They are Harold Dawson, Louden Downey, and William Santiago. These three characters are important because the whole court case is surrounded by them. I viewed this movie on Crackle.
Most end results of a case are due to a plea bargain. Plea bargains can take place anywhere, in this case in the office and a basketball court. 93 percent of convictions are made due to negotiated guilty pleas. Prosecutors can gain leverage through use of evidence to help them make a deal, also they can offer a less offense in return for information on another case. Plea bargains are usually made by the prosecutor and approved by the judge. In “A Few Good Men,” the two accused privates, Dawson and Downey, are facing life in prison for the murder of another private, Private Santiago. Ross, the prosecutor, tries to make a plea with Kaffee, the defense attorney. The first time Ross tries to get him to agree with incapacitation for twelve years. When refusing the first plea, Ross gives Kaffee one more plea bargain for pleading guilty of
6). This would leave the court system plenty behind and nearly almost impossible to attend to each case. Plea bargaining is essential to court cases and must be done (Emerick), stated attorney Samuel Buccero. “The court is not set up to have multiple trials. The dockets are set up to be done in less than an hour” (Emerick), Buccero said.
Pleas don’t come without drawbacks or dangers. Some fear that an innocent defendant may be pressured into a confession and plea out of fear of a more severe penalty if convicted. Another drawback is that some vicious criminals will get lenient treatment and get less than they deserve and be back out in a shorter time. “More than 90% of convictions come from negotiated pleas, which means that less than 10% of criminal cases result in trial.” This statistic starts to answer a question I had about our system. “What are the effects of plea bargaining in our courts and should there be more control over them?” The obvious effects are that fewer cases actually go to trial. With less cases
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).
A plea bargain (“offer”) is an agreement in a criminal case whereby the prosecuting agency may offer the defendant the opportunity to plead guilty, usually to a lesser charge or to the original criminal charge with a proposal of a lighter than the maximum sentence. This opportunity allows defendants to avoid the risk of a conviction at trial on a more serious charge. This also allows all involved parties to keep the court’s calendars light without exhausting resources of a court, potential public defenders, and prosecutors who are all salaried for by the expense of tax payers. If every case in the criminal justice system went to trial, the courts would be so overloaded that they would effectively be shut down.
One of the major reasons that people strongly dislike plea bargains is that they are seen as swift, and impersonal to the parties involved. On the flip side, isn’t this a positive thing? Anything that goes to courts
An agreement made in a criminal case between a prosecutor and its defendant, before reaching a trial is a plea bargain. The prosecutor offers an opportunity to the defendant to plead guilty. By agreeing to plead guilty to a crime the defendant would in exchange get a prosecutor’s promise to convince the judge to reduce the sentence. It is really impossible to predict what a jury is going to decide in a trial. I personally think that plea bargaining is being used as an easy way out; instead of having the person who committed the crime pay for what they did by serving the whole time. By managing a plea bargain the terms can sometimes be used to include pondering on how it works and who it can help.
Ching-Cheng, Wu A Few Good Men The movie a few good men is a great learning tool of the structure and function of American court. I purchased the movie on YouTube. The main characters of the movie are Daniel Kaffee, the defense attorney, Jack Ross, the prosecutor, Harold Dawson and Louden Downey, the defendants, Nethan Jessup, the witness.
A Few Good Men is a 1992 American legal drama directed by Rob Reiner. The story follows the court-martial of two U.S. Marines, who are charged with the murder of a fellow marine and the problems faced by the lawyers, of the accused, while preparing their defenses. The Marines are on a murder trial for carrying out a “code red” order. The movie refers to “code red” as a type of extrajudicial punishment used for an alleged crime or offense, which is carried out without a legal procedure.