Essay on "History Plea Bargaining? "

Essay 3 pages (994 words) Sources: 4

[EXCERPT] . . . .

These ramifications mean that it may be in the best interest of an innocent person to plead guilty -- which simply reinforces the subversion of justice in what is supposed to be a criminal justice system.

There are many adverse impacts that the criminal justice system could incur if the device of plea bargains were not allowed or discontinued. Most of them are directly related to the fact that this system is presently overcrowded. If pleas were no longer allowed, the system would be even more crowded than it currently is. The fiscal ramifications of having to actually try each and every defendant who was accused of something would be considerable, both at the state and the federal level. It was the need to reduce these costs and the backlog in the criminal justice system that created the notion of plea bargaining in the first place.

Additionally, the elimination of plea bargains would create a significantly higher work load for both prosecutors and judges. The impact of this aspect of the discontinuance of plea bargaining would also negatively affect defendants. The wait for access to a "speedy and fair trial" would become considerably protracted, particularly for those individuals who cannot post bail. The criminal justice system would be significantly closer to a situation in which people -- whether innocent or guilty -- would simply have to sit and jail and wait their chance to prove their case if plea bargains were no longer an option for them.

A March article by Nina Totenberg states that "Ninety-five percent of all convictions are the result of plea bargains, not trials," (2012). An article by Christina Langella reveals that "97% of federal convictions and 94% of state convictions were the results of guilty pleas" (Langella, 2012) in March of 2012. There is an amount of convincing evidence that indicates that among states in the U.S., plea bargains may be substantially more ubiquitous in New York than in other states. The following quotation reinforces this concept with statistical evidence. "Even as early as 1920, it was thought that 88% of convictions in New York were via guilty pleas, up from 22% just over 80 years earlier" (Weil, 2012). This evidence makes sense particularly in light of New York's strict hand gun laws, which enforce lengthy sentences. The widely debated three-strikes policy of California makes this another state in which plea bargaining occurs at a higher rate than it does in other states.

References

Langella, C. (2012). "U.S. supreme court places a check on plea bargains." Pace Law School. Retrieved from http://pilr.blogs.law.pace.edu/2012/03/26/us-supreme-court-places-a-check-on-plea-bargains-2/

McCoy, C. (2003). "Plea bargaining's triumph: a history of plea bargaining in America." Law and Politics Book Review. Retrieved from http://www.bsos.umd.edu/gvpt/lpbr/subpages/reviews/Fisher1103.htm

Totenberg, N. (2012). "High court expands defendants' plea bargain rights." www.npr.og. Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/2012/03/21/149093334/high-court-throws-out-conviction-in-bad-lawyer-case

Weil, D. (2012). "Widespread use of plea bargains plays major role in widespread incarceration." www.truth-out.org. Retrieved from http://truth-out.org/news/item/12556-overwhelming-use-of-plea-bargains-plays-major-role-in-mass-incarceration#13595914009521&action=collapse_widget&id=3950325 READ MORE

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