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The use of plea bargaining in our criminal justice system
The use of plea bargaining in our criminal justice system
Plea bargaining apa paper abstract
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The plea bargain, a familiar term to most Americans. It is a procedure that for many years I associated with offering flexibility and rights citizens guilty of crimes. I thought of it as a way to implement justice with compassion. My opinion changed after seeing the impact of a plea bargain on the victims family member, who is a close friend of mine. This opinion was further solidified with watching the YouTube video, Ritter plea bargain. With research I continue to find prejudice, racism, injustice, and the unconstitutional implementation of plea bargains. This paper aims to explain what the plea bargain is. To discuss how plea bargains are desideratum for the United States judicial system. To examine a few of the misappropriations and the resulting injustices. As well as make suggestions which aim to improve the usage of plea bargains. In order to delve further into issues and remedies, there must be a firm understanding regarding the intent and nature of plea bargains within the judicial system.
A plea bargain, otherwise known as Pursuant to Rule 11(c)(1)(B) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure is complex (Wikipedia, 2013). A simplification of a plea bargain would be to say that it is an agreement between a defendant and the prosecution for more lenient sentencing, or reduction in charges. That is what a plea bargain aims to do. The logistics of plea bargaining starts with an individual being charged in a criminal case. They are then offered a plea bargain, a one sided binding agreement of guilt, in hopes it will reduce charges and penalties (Wikipedia, 2014). It aims to have less charges, charges that are less severe, or reduced charges and hence reduced sentencing. However, even in the best situations where the plea ba...
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Devers, L. (2011, January). Plea and Change Bargaining. CSR, Inc. BJA. DOJ. Retrieved from
Gavett, G. (2011, October). The Problem With Pleas. Retrieved from
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Wikipedia. (2013, November). Plea Bargaining in the United States. Retrieved from
Wikipedia (2014, February). Plea Bargain. Retrieved from
YouTube. (September, 2006) Gapalasz. Ritter plea bargan. Rerieved Feb. 16 2014. from
Plea bargaining precludes justice from being achieved, where the consent to less severe sentences are given in favour of time and money. The case of R v Rogerson and McNamara, demonstrates the advantages of hiring highly trained legal personnel, which inevitably contributed to their lesser sentence. Thus, making it more difficult for offenders to be convicted.
A plea bargain is compliance between a prosecutor and defendant in which the accused offender agrees to plead guilty in return for some compromise from the prosecutor. The New Jim Crow, explains how most Americans have no clue on how common it is for people to be prosecuted without proper legal representation and are sentenced to jail when innocent out of fear. Tens of thousands of poor people go to jail every year without ever talking to a lawyer that could possibly help them. Over four decades ago, the American Supreme Court ruled that low-income people who are accused of serious crimes are entitled to council, but thousands of people are processed through America’s courts annually with a low resource lawyer, or no lawyer at all. Sometimes
Plea bargaining has emerged very early in history, and it has played an important role in the contemporary criminal justice system. Indeed, plea bargaining is a “necessary evil” because it brings advantage to all sides including the prosecutor, defendant and the court judges. Its necessity does not constitute its constitutionality, however, and plea bargaining should be limited in certain cases because it can be problematic in various aspects. In light of its inevitability, a categorization system can be employed to limit the use of plea bargaining and ensure its fair use, and that there should be specific guidelines of plea bargaining in each category of crime. In this paper, the definition and necessity of plea bargaining as well as its potential problems are discussed first. Then the paper would introduce the categorization system that originated from a comparative perspective. The specifics of the system would be discussed, and finally, its limitations and suggested further research or development.
A plea bargain is determined good for someone based only on their facts and conditions of their case. A disadvantage of plea bargaining is actually admitting the guilt (Understanding). Plea bargains appear to only benefit the criminal because they ultimately receive a lesser punishment. A plea bargain might seem good now but it could have permanent impact on your life. An innocent person would most likely not want to plead guilty but could feel the pressure from lawyers to enter a plea just to avoid a lengthy and costly trial. Even if the innocent person accepts a plea with no jail time, they will still have the conviction on their record. I believe all cases should go to jury trail regardless of the time and cost because in all fairness it is the nest shot at finding the true criminal and issuing the appropriate punishment. Shamim Ebrahimi’s advice regarding plea bargains is, “Focus on the big picture, and make sure you are aware of your options and possible collateral consequences because, remember, plea bargains almost always require a defendant to plead guilty on the record, and more often than not that record will follow you around for the rest of your life”
A plea bargain can be defined as, “a negotiation between the defendant and his attorney on one side and the prosecutor on the other, in which the defendant agrees to plead “guilty” or “no contest” to some crimes, in return for reduction of the severity of the charges, dismissal of some of the charges, the prosecutor’s willingness to recommend a particular sentence or some other benefit to the defendant. Sometimes one element of the bargain is that the defendant reveal information such as location of stolen goods, names of others participating in the crime or admission of other crimes. The judge must agree to the result of the plea bargain before accepting the plea. If he does not, then the bargain is cancelled.”
In closing, the criminal trial process has been able to reflect the morals and ethics of society to a great extent, despite the few limitations, which hinder its effectiveness. The moral and ethical standards have been effectively been reflected to a great extent in the areas of the adversary system, the system of appeals, legal aid and the jury
Walsh, James, and Dan Browning. "Presumed Guilty Until Proved Innocent." Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN). 23 Jul 2000: A1+. SIRS Issues Researcher.
Discrimination against the minority population is a major problem in the United States society’s justice system. There are many examples where African American and low-income minorities are treated differently and not given the chance to prove their innocence. The law enforcement promises to treat all men or women equal opportunity, but the same system has put 120,000 innocent African Americans in prison. While most of them still remain in prisons, injustice by law enforcements is still a burden to the minorities in America. Moreover, wrongful conviction is a horrible injustice when a person spends years in jail. This is getting recognized by the U.S. system but often late. In many cases by the time a person is proven innocent, he or she might
This research essay discusses racial disparities in the sentencing policies and process, which is one of the major factors contributing to the current overrepresentation of minorities in the judicial system, further threatening the African American and Latino communities. This is also evident from the fact that Blacks are almost 7 times more likely to be incarcerated than are Whites (Kartz, 2000). The argument presented in the essay is that how the laws that have been established for sentencing tend to target the people of color more and therefore their chances of ending up on prison are higher than the whites. The essay further goes on to talk about the judges and the prosecutors who due to different factors, tend to make their decisions
Neubauer, D. W., & Fradella, H. F. (2011). America’s courts and the criminal justice system (10th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
The system has gone as deep as to making it so that even if a person has not committed a crime, but is being charged for it they can agree to a plea bargain, which makes it so even though the person did not do it the system is going to have them convicted of it anyway (Quigley 1). “As one young man told me ‘who wouldn’t rather do three years for a crime they didn’t commit than risk twenty-five years for a crime they didn’t do?” (Quigley 2). The criminal justice system has scared the majority of the population into believing that even though they did not commit a crime, they are convicted of it.
By viewing the justice system from an equal justice perspective, truth in sentencing does not account for the criminal offender’s motives for breaking the law. A judge may believe it is morally right to lessen the punishment of an offender, who had good intentions for committing the crime. An individual may be placed in a circumstantially difficult situation, which could force them to commit a crime. Unfortunately for those individuals, truth in sentencing in the equal justice perspective does not allow for the judge’s discretion in that case. Therefore, if two people commit the same crime, yet one had negative intentions, he or she would face the same punishment as someone who did not have these intentions. A judge loses this power consider motive because all criminals of the same crime are viewed as equal. By restricting a judge’s discretion, it creates injustice within the courts. Actions are based on their motives and a judge should have the ability to consider it when making a decision that can greatly impact another individual’s life. Therefore, truth in sentencing and the equal justice perspective need the discretion of a judge to justly establish a fair sentence that accounts for all aspects of the individual and their
Schmalleger, F. (2009), Prentice Hall, Publication. Criminal Justice Today: An introductory Text for the 21st century
The definition of justice and the means by which it must be distributed differ depending on an individual’s background, culture, and own personal morals. As a country of many individualistic citizens, the United States has always tried its best to protect, but not coddle, its people in this area. Therefore, the criminal justice history of the United States is quite extensive and diverse; with each introduction of a new era, more modern technologies and ideals are incorporated into government, all with American citizens’ best interests in mind.
There’s too much pressure on the criminal justice system because it is supposed to solve socie-ty’s ills. One of the greatest challenges facing the criminal justice system is the need to balance the rights of the accused criminals against society interest in imposing punishments on those convicted of