The Fairness of Plea Bargaining
Plea Bargaining Plea bargaining is an inherent part of the criminal justice system. “Let’s make a deal.” Plea bargains are agreements that are made between the defendant and prosecutor in a criminal court case. The agreement can only be completed if defendant and prosecutor come to a communally agreement. During the plea bargaining process, the defendant makes a knowing and voluntary waiver of his or her rights to a trail. Judges do not participate in the discussions and can decline or accept the guilty plea or plea agreement if the charge or charges have factual basis. Upon completion of this research paper, the issues that will be addressed are fairness of plea bargaining, and whether if plea bargaining is unconstitutional. According to the Bureau of Justice, a great number of people enter into plea agreements each year. It is estimated that 90 to 95 percent of state and federal court cases have been resolved through this process. However, this system has been criticized for allowing prosecutors too much discretion compared with judges, who are held to concise sentencing guidelines (Burke, 2007; Finkelstein, 1975; Ma, 2002). Prosecutors have been found to use threats that coerce defendants into accepting pleas to secure a conviction when the evidence in a case is insubstantial (Finkelstein, 1975). Moreover, several researchers have noted that prosecutorial biases can influence the plea bargaining process, because prosecutors are given such wide latitude when they reduce charges for offenders (Burke, 2007; Ma, 2002). There are many different reasons why individuals are offered plea bargaining. It has been reported that in most cases race and gender play a large role in the length of time the defendant receives when accepting a plea bargain. Not only does plea bargaining save taxpayers an enormous amount of money, it often provides the evidence for a conviction and allows public defenders and other court officials to concentrate their limited
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