A plea bargain can help a prosecutor by it saves the court valuable time for high-priority cases. Also it can help a prosecutor because then don’t have go through a trial if they have a lot of other cases. A plea bargain can also help a prosecutor because if the defendant takes the deal it shows that they are taking responsibility for the crime. When it comes to the defendant a plea bargain can help by the defendant could get a lesser sentence if they plead guilty to the crime the committed. Also it can help the defendant by not making them sit though a trial.
According to the Legal Resource Library, “The biggest drawback to plea bargaining is for the innocent defendant who decides to plead guilty to a lesser charge in order to avoid the risk that he or she will be found guilty at trial.” Plea bargaining requires the defendant to waive three rights that he/she is normally protected by until the Fifth and Sixth Amendments: the right to a jury trial, the right against self-incrimination, and the right to confront hostile witnesses. (Cornell.edu) Some people may try to argue that plea bargaining in unconstitutional, however, this argument has been repeatedly overruled by the Supreme Court. There are a lot of controversial issues surrounding plea bargaining, and victims’ rights groups are arguing that the victim should have inputs and a voice into the bargain that is being established between the prosecutor and the defendant. Victim rights activists also feel that defendants undermine the criminal justice system in its entirety and defendants are let off too
Prosecutors can sometimes get away with misconduct as it is extremely difficult to prove that misconduct had actually taken place. Often times the prosecutor is viewed as being on the side of justice and as a result it is difficult for the defendant (who is accused of a crime) to turn the tide against the prosecution. Although during the trial both the defense as well as the judge may report a prosecutor for misconduct, this rarely happens as these reports are often dismissed. This is because as long as the prosecutions misconduct does not affect the outcome of the case, then it is tolerated, meaning that a prosecutor can harass a witness or the defendant so long as the harassment did not have anything to do with the outcome of the trial. The fact that the prosecutor works in the interests of the state can be seen as the underlying factor here.
Plea Bargains Andrea Dennis-Hart September 23, 2009 Tony Stroud A plea bargain according to Black’s Law Dictionary is the process whereby the accused and the 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 (Black, 1991, p. 798). Many plea bargains need to get the approval of the court, but some may not be; this is when prosecutors may drop charges in exchange for a guilty plea. There are different forms of plea bargains. All involves some form of sentence reduction.
Also, plea bargains allow prosecuters to protect government informants, which most likely have criminal records. The defence could discredit the informant if the case were taken to trial. Flexibility is another benefit to the prosecuter. A deal can be made with the defendant in order to get him or her to give a testimony about a codefendant or to help resolve some other unsolved case. Defendant
Others may think the exclusionary rule should not be used to enforce the Fourth Amendment. They feel at times it is necessary for the exclusionary rule to not be used. I can understand their position because they are looking at putting the accused defendant behind bars and make sure they are punished to the fullest. At times without the exclusionary rule, the case in court can succeed and get the result the prosecution and maybe even what the public want. Sometimes people feel the defendant has too many rights and has more benefits, which could help them get away with criminal activity.
Sparing the innocent victims who would be spared, ex hypothesi, by the nonexecution of murderers would be more important to me than the execution, however just, of murderers. But although there is a lively discussion of the subject, no serious evidence exists to support the hypothesis that executions produce a higher murder rate. Cf. Phillips, The Deterrent Effect of Capital Punishment: New Evidence on an Old Controversy, 86 AM. J. SOC.
I would think that if a judge knowingly accepts a plea agreement knowing that the defendant is not admitting that he or she is guilty, and does not believe that the defendant is taking the plea out of an admission of guilt should not agree to the plea. At least with a trial a person has the
First you have the Prosecution. The responsibility of the prosecution is to prove that without a shadow of a doubt that the defendant committed the crime. Im sure there are times that the prosecution does not think the defendant is not guilty but it is there moral right to keep the trial going and prove their case. It has got to be difficult for the prosecution to know that because of the case they have built against a person could decide the rest of their life. Lets get to the Defense.
However, there are some types of behaviours such as Strict Liability offences which do not require fault but the defendant is still prosecuted. Fault is established by a combination of Actus Reus, Mens Rea, Defences and Sentencing. The outcome of being charged with a criminal offence is based on whether the defendant is found to be at fault (guilty) as a result he is convicted and sentenced; or he is not at fault (not guilty) and is acquitted; or he is partially at fault which is where the charge is reduced to a lesser offence for example a murder charge is reduced to a manslaughter charge. Firstly, to be at fault, the defendant must have the Actus Reus of the offence he is being charged with. Generally, the Actus Reus must be voluntary and deliberate and if involuntary, he is not at fault.