Plea Bargaining Essay

802 Words4 Pages
Advantages and Disadvantages of Plea Bargaining Eva McGill CJA/224 6/4/13 Danielle Diaz Plea bargaining is a very familiar process in our criminal justice system. Usually, the defense is allowed to bargain with a prosecutor to have a defendant plead guilty to a criminal accusation with the hope of getting a lighter punishment. The problem with this immediate approach is that dangerous offenders are pleading guilty to small misbehavior charges and they are keeping a cleaner record than they should have and getting reduced sentence. Plea bargaining is needed on the other hand defendants tried on felony charges should not be able to appeal down to small misbehavior charges. Plea bargaining is an agreement between the prosecutor and the defendant in a criminal case. The prosecutor gives the defendant the opportunity to plead guilty to a lesser charge or to the original charge with less than the maximum sentence (Law Info, Pros and Cons of Plea Bargaining). . Advantages and Disadvantages The Plea Bargaining gives advantages to both the defendants and the courts system in general. Some advantages in terms of a defendant in a case are that a defendant may not have to pay for a fine or may get reduction in a fine. Pleading guilty could also remove jail time in some cases or a defendant could end up with reduction in jail time. Additional charges are usually very likely to be dropped or dismissed in most cases. It avoids publicity and may result in fewer convictions on a defendant’s criminal record. Plea bargaining could also save a defendant a bunch of money since he’s not going to pay lawyers as much as going through trial and might have a better chance of getting a job which brings income and defendants might not lose their jobs. In terms of the court system, dismissing a case before trial could save more money and time and move on to other cases. Some
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