Plea Bargaining

[dimpy.handa]

The difference between plea-bargain and trial sentence is not so great that people will willingly opt for the unpleasantness of imprisonment, lifelong stigma, a criminal record, etc.

 

[dimpy.handa]

Plea bargaining was not favored in colonial America. In fact, courts actively discouraged defendants from pleading guilty. Courts gradually accepted guilty pleas in the nineteenth century. As populations increased and court procedural safeguards increased, courts became overcrowded, and trials became more lengthy. This made trial in every case an impossibility. By the twentieth century, the vast majority of criminal cases were resolved with guilty pleas.

 

[swatiraohnlu]

argument against plea bargaining is that it may not actually reduce the costs of administering justice. For example, if a prosecutor has only a 25% chance of winning his case and sending the defendant away to prison for 10 years, he may make a plea agreement for a 1-year sentence; but if plea bargaining is unavailable, he may drop the case completely.