Plea Bargaining Essay

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Denise and Mercedes Background/Review of the Literature: A description of what has already known about this area and short discussion of why the background studies are not sufficient. Summarize what is already known about the field. Include a summary of the basic background information on the topic gleaned from your literature review (you can include information from the book and class, but the bulk should be outside sources) Plea Bargaining is a widely known form of plea and is known as "the process whereby the accused and prosecutor in a criminal case work out a mutually satisfactory disposition of the case subject to court approval. It usually involves the defendant's pleading guilty to a lesser offense or to only one or some of the counts of a multi-count indictment in return for a lighter sentence than that possible for the graver charge." Plea bargaining usually occurs prior to a trial but in some cases may occur anytime before a verdict is rendered. Plea bargaining is often negotiated when a trial has been resulted in a hung jury; this will be used instead of going to trial. A plea bargain usually occurs on the telephone or in the office of the prosecutor at the courtroom. Plea bargains that are accepted by the judge are then placed on record in an open courtroom and the defendant must be present. In order for a plea bargain to hold validity it has to have three essential components, A knowing waiver of rights, A voluntary waiver and A factual basis to support the charges to which the defendant is pleading guilty. One very important point about plea bargains is that the prosecuting attorney has no authority to force a court to accept a plea agreement, it may only recommend that they accept the plea agreement. Although plea bargaining is criticized very harshly criminal convictions are done 90% through plea bargains. This

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