The Plea Bargain Is A Vital Part Of The Criminal Justice System

Yes, The Supreme Court held a guilty plea is more than just an admission of wrongdoing, the decision must be made voluntarily and with full understanding of the consequences. In review of the lower court’s decision, the trial judge accepted the guilty plea without confirmation from the defendant. The court held that the waiving the Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination and trial by jury cannot be ascertained from a silent record. Furthermore, the acceptance of the petitioner’s plea was a reversible error, due to the failure of the court record to show that the defendant followed proper procedure in entering a guilty plea.

Plea bargaining may have advantages in America’s and Canada’s Justice System, but it also proposes an advantage for the accused criminal. It gives the defendant the opportunity to reduce sentence and provide a better, more comfortable stay in correctional facilities. It gives the opportunity for guilty criminals, who know a guilty sentence will be there if facing a jury, to plead guilty to the case for one’s own benefits. Rather than spending time presenting a losing case in front of a judge and jury, and losing plenty of money in court fees, the case can be wrapped up in a matter of agreement. Guilty defendants seem to be in a win-win situation and can use plea bargaining as a total advantage.

In 1976, the United States Supreme Court, in Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U.S. 153 (1976), Jurek v. Texas, 428 U.S. 262 (1976), and Proffitt v. Florida, 428 U.S. 242 (1976) held that the discretion to impose the death sentence for specific crimes was to be bi-furcated into two separate trials. The first to determine guilt or innocence; the second to determine the aggravating and mitigating factors. The State of Oceana adopted the findings of the U.S. Supreme Court in People v. Wende, 600 P. 2d 1071 (Cal: Supreme Court 1979) In

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.

A plea bargain is a negotiation between the defendant and their attorney on one side, and the crown prosecutor on the other side. A plea bargain may give the defendant a lightened sentence, in exchange for either confessing to some crimes, or giving information that is related to the offence, for example, the location of stolen goods or the names and locations of other participants, as well as their part in the offence.

The plea bargain (also plea agreement, plea deal, copping a plea, or plea in mitigation) 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. This may mean that the defendant will plead guilty to a less serious charge, or to one of the several charges, in return for the dismissal of other charges; or it may mean that the defendant will plead guilty to the original criminal charge in return for a more lenient sentence

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.”

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

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.

Our criminal justice system today mainly operates on a system known as plea bargaining. Simply put, plea bargaining is the process of negotiation among the defendants, the prosecutor, and the defense counsel. With this, defendants are given the opportunity to negotiate a plea deal, mainly due to the over-crowding in our criminal courts. Because of this, many prosecutors, judges, and defense attorneys feel increased pressured to move the cases quickly through the system. Some believe that this process is more cost efficient for the system than having all of the cases go to trial.

Plea bargaining is an arrangement between a prosecutor and defendant, whereby the defendant pleads guilty to a charge in order to be given a less severe punishment (Merriam-Webster, 2016). There are two main reasons why plea bargaining continues to play a role in the justice system; it claims to increase certainty and save the time and expenses of a criminal trial. Although plea bargaining has been proven to be effectual, there are many negative effects of plea bargaining.

Plea bargaining is any agreement is an agreement between the prosecutor and defendant agrees to plead guilty to a particular charge in exchange for a concession from the prosecutor. There are many benefits to the defendant and justice system which can vary to relieving the defendant of a major conviction and benefit them based on the final decision, while also avoiding the trial set by the courts. The justice system benefits from the plea bargain because the prosecutor is able to convict the defendant of committing the the crime towards society and win the case without having to proceed to trial. On the other hand plea bargaining is controversial since it skips through the entire investigative process and is considered to be an easy way out of trial since the conviction can become less than what is actually supposed to be the actual time for the commited crime. For example a murder can convicted a person up to life in prison, and a plea bargain can reduce the time in prison for the defendant by 10 years, which is unfair since now the defendant gets to spend less time in prison for such a horrific crime.

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.

You know how sometimes you’re waiting in line, and the person a few spots ahead of you is in an argument with the cashier? It sucks. That one person is holding up the entire line just because they are incapable of coming to an agreement with the cashier. And now, because of them, your entire day is thrown off, simply because two parties could not reach a mutual agreement with each other. In a nutshell, this is plea bargaining. Imagine that the person a few spots ahead of you is a prosecutor and the cashier is the defendant in court. It is the exact same thing. Plea bargaining is a term used when the two parties reach a mutual agreement in a court of law. Usually it involves a little bit of give, and a little bit of take from both parties,

Defendants are oftentimes encouraged to plead guilty for a variety of reasons such as the prospect of a darker, more ominous trial looming on the horizon versus a nicer, cleaner, more immediate resolution. Also they are encouraged to plead guilty if it seems like they will be found guilty at a trial, reasoning that a little bit of punishment now is preferred to the potential for greater punishment down the road. This begs for guilty verdicts even when they are not warranted, preferring an easy quick fix to the truth. There is not even a judge involved in the plea bargaining arrangement, it is a questionable practice that practices in lies and