Term Paper on "Plea Bargaining"

Term Paper 7 pages (2084 words) Sources: 2 Style: APA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Plea Bargaining: What Does it Mean to the Criminal Justice System

Plea bargaining is not a legal punishment assigned to criminal behavior, but is a tool that has been utilized by an overburdened legal system, which is poorly equipped to otherwise deal with the enormous numbers of criminal cases that filter through the system. Without plea bargaining, law enforcement, prosecutors, defense attorneys and finders of fact would be required to meet the legal definitions of the rules of evidence, which could involve lengthy processes and costs associated with bringing those cases to trial and through the court system. It has also served as a means by which to ensure that the person who cooperates with law enforcement and prosecutors benefits from that cooperation, usually by a reduced sentence as a result of plea bargaining. Plea bargaining does not guarantee a person who has bargained for a lesser sentence through the quid pro quo of cooperation will be awarded the lesser sentence. At the end of the day, the decision to abide by the plea bargained arrangements rests with the court. If the Court finds that the weight of the crime, and the resulting public opinion, exceed the plea bargain deal, then the Court can nonetheless impose whatever penalty it prescribes for the crime within the legal parameters of remedies for the crime.

The hypothesis that constitutes the basis of this research is that the public is not supportive of plea bargaining in cases of violent crimes. The research being proposed here will provide valuable and useful information in support of the hypothesis. Based on the hypothesis, study and analysis of existing cases should support the hypothesis with measurable data that will show that public opinion has impacted the sentencing decisions of courts regardless of plea bargains.

Prior Studies

Julian V. Roberts' book, Public Opinion, Crime and Criminal Justice, reports on a series of surveys that examined public opinion on certain aspect of legal procedure and processes. In 1988, a survey was conducted of public opinion in Canada, and found that four out of five people surveyed disapproved of plea bargaining (Roberts, Julian V, 1997, p. 210). "There was little demographic variance in attitudes. Moreover, the link between attitudes and plea bargaining and views of sentencing were clear. People who regarded plea bargaining as unacceptable also thought that sentences were not harsh enough (Roberts, Julian V, 1997, p. 210)." The same survey yielded information to show that the prosecutors' reasons underlying the plea bargaining impacted public opinion. "Finally, the presence of information about a plea bargain in scenarios had the impact of changing public evaluations of criminal justice professionals (Roberts, Julian V, 1997, p. 210)." It did not change their overall opinion of the use of plea bargaining. "For example, if subjects read about a case in which a plea bargain had taken place, they had more negative views of the prosecutor (Roberts, Julian V, 1997, p. 210)."

Some studies have been done that show public opinion and sentencing of actual plea bargained cases,.".. supports the view that the public are not harsher than the courts, or at least are not as consistently harsh as the poll findings would suggest (Roberts, Julian V, 1997, p. 210)." In other words, the sentencing imposed upon the cases by the courts comports with what the public would deem to reasonable sentences for the crime.

In 2003, Sergio Herzog's study titled the Relationship Between Public Perceptions of Crime Seriousness and Support for Plea-Bargaining in Israel: A Factorial-Survey Approach, discusses public opinion at length and contains interesting and insightful public opinion survey results (2003, p. 103). The report itself would serve to support the research proposed here, and the data yield contained in the report would serve as data by which to compare the data of a current study to determine the change or consistency in public opinion.

Herzog's study brings to light some important study considerations; the use of terminology, the meaning of certain legal terms as understood by the public who are surveyed needs to be dealt with in the study in order to ensure a level survey base (p. 103). Herzog's study is one of the best of the available studies in that it converts individual case and survey information into statistical information that provides a more clear understanding of public opinion and the public's impact on sentencing (p. 103).

Thus, the hypothesis posited as the basis for this research would be supported, and disputed, by existing literature and prior studies. However, an up-to-date study and timely study would be useful, especially one that involves the prior studies, as a result of the greater breadth of knowledge that now exists in the public domain as a result of mass communications, internet, and television reality shows that are rooted in legal and court procedures and criminal investigations.

The research proposed here would stand informed by these prior studies, but would generate new data, timely data, that would be useful for use in the immediate, and near future.

Variables for this Study

The variables proposed for study here fall into six categories: (1) sexual abuse of a child, (2) murder of a husband, (3) murder charged under the hate crime rule (4) securities fraud (Enron-like case scenario), (5) identity theft, and (6) defrauding elderly citizen of life savings. Each of the eight variables is intended to speak to the following dependent variables: (1) gender, (2) sexual orientation, (3) age, and (4) social perceptions and relationships.

Scenarios of Plea Bargaining

There will, of course, be eight plea bargaining scenarios presented to the individuals surveyed. The basis for the scenarios be rooted in real cases, but modified to achieve the most level survey results in variable to dependent variable ratio. For instance, it might be necessary to modify the age of the victim in the child abuse scenario so as to compensate for immediate rage reaction on the part of the surveyed individual. The scenarios will be presented to the individuals surveyed in two parts: the specific criminal act, and then the plea bargain settlement.

Again, using Herzog's model, the scenarios will be presented will be of eight facets of information or dimensions (p. 103). The eight dimensions will be represented by letters assigned a-H, and will be listed in an Appendix (Appendix 1). Four of the eight dimensions will be related to the crime ((a criminal offense, B seriousness of the crime as perceived by the individual surveyed; C, degree of injury/damage, and D, the perpetrator's criminal record) (p. 103). The surveyed individual will be provided with four elements of the plea bargain, E, type of plea bargain agreement, F, judge's involvement, G, victim's level of cooperation, i.e., identifying pertinent individual, evidence, or other information related to the crime; H, public disclosure of prosecutorial evidence, i.e., exculpatory evidence that could impact the perpetrator's decision to plea (p. 103).

Independent Variables

Following the Herzog study, there will be two independent variables utilized here; criminal offense (dimension a) and offense seriousness (dimension B) (Herzog, Sergio, 2003, p. 103).

Control Variables

Again, relying on Herzog (2003), as the model for this study, assuming that the attitudes of the individuals surveyed will be effected by the dimensions provided them in the scenarios, the remaining dimensions, since a and B. were provided as the two facets of independent a and B. variables; then the remaining six of the original eight, C-H shall serve as the control variables (p. 103). The control variables are reliant upon the variables that will be provided by the individuals surveyed about their selves (I-O). That information, relying on Herzog's model, are:

I-O on a scale of 1 to 11, I do not support - or I strongly support - the use of plea bargaining (based on scenario of individually presented case criteria)

Descriptive Statistics (n=606)

Variable Range Mean SD

Gender (1 = Male)

Sexual Orientation (1 = not heterosexual)

Ethnicity (1 = not Caucasian)

Religion (1 = non-Christian)

Citizen Status (1 = non-Citizen)

Income (1 = poverty or below)

Age (in years)

Education (years)

Thus, using Herzog's model, the control variables will provide six scenario dimensions (C-H), and seven demographic variables (I-O). The independent variables and both sets of control variables will be analyzed by multivariate regression analyses of the respondents' evaluations of the plea bargaining agreement by scenario (p. 103). This will allow for presentation of the information to reflect the public opinion, the impact of the variables on public opinion, public opinion in relation to public demographics; and help establish the overall basis for the analysis of the data in a results presentation in the study.

A discussion of the data will be based on the data outcome, and will lend itself to the final portion of the research by way of conclusion. The discussion will compare the results of this study to its model study, Sergio Herzog's 2003 study published in the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, Vol. 94, p. 103. The discussion section will also compare the data outcomes to other… READ MORE

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