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Pros And Cons Of Plea Bargaining

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Pros And Cons Of Plea Bargaining
Bargaining in the Guise of Justice? The Pro’s and Con’s of Plea bargaining In the United States.

The creation and application of plea bargaining in our legal system has been in existence since the early seventeenth century. However, for as long as plea bargaining has been utilized it is unclear how this process fits into our legal system. The goals of our legal system are retribution, deterrence, incapacitation or rehabilitation, however plea bargaining fails to support any of these goals (Stitt & Chaires, p.73). Currently plea bargaining is utilized in approximately 95% of all criminal cases in the United States (Walker, 2006, p. 169) and with the enforcement of due process laws plea bargaining has been institutionalized in our …show more content…
The extension of due process into our legal system insured that all defendants were covered and represented, thus making plea bargaining a more viable option. Although, in my mind even though due process is present in our legal system, in many cases it is clear that defendants are not really educated on their legal options. I think that in many instances the legal language and environment that is present during legal processes is very complex and for the typical layman very alienating. Plea bargaining has become an institution in our legal system, but it is important to remember that vote-buying, bribery of bureaucrats and general corruption are also ancient institutions. A review of the pro’s and con’s of plea bargaining helps to identify whether plea bargaining should continue in our society …show more content…
The result is a system in which bargaining replaces evidence as the paramount determinant of guilt or innocence. This equates to a system in which guilt is presumed rather than innocence. This type of system is not beneficial to defendants, because an innocent defendant may be coerced into a confession and accepts the guilty plea out of fear of a more severe penalty if they are convicted by a jury of their peers. Also, in this type of system plea agreements generally appear on the record, however ambiguity clouds the extent to which judges require a factual basis to support
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