Plea Bargains From a Gut Level Reaction,

Plea Bargains

From a gut level reaction, emotions start to boil whenever a show like this is aired. Questions about how the greatest country in the world can have such obvious flaws in a justice system that has been the envy of the worldwide legal community start to surface. Additionally, heartstrings are tugged, citizens are moved to make demands, and groups involved. What a great country we have! The next reaction felt however is to ask if this is really a story.

A recent report confirmed that "criminal cases rarely go to trial, because about 95% are resolved by plea bargains" (Lynch, 2011, p. 68). Contemplating such a large percentage of cases that never see the inside of a courtroom is mind boggling to say the least. Watching The Plea, one would likely start to wonder what percentage of the number of cases resolved by plea bargains actually result in misapplications of justice. It's a relatively simple matter for a news organization to put together a compelling piece to justify a producer or journalist's stance on any issue. The main objective of the news organization is not necessarily one that provides faith to the viewer, but rather one that garners as many viewers as possible. Publicizing a problem and submitting evidence of three or four cases that 'prove' there is a problem makes for good television. Therefore, my gut reaction is to watch with a jaundice eye, taking the rose colored glasses off for just a moment and being realistic about the problem.

One of the ramifications of the plea bargain is that it is going to affect some people more than others. Is there a bias toward race, class, or gender? There probably is. Is there enough of a bias to trash the entire system, probably not. The bias of the system is one that is naturally going to affect those most involved with the system; the poor, single parents, minorities and true criminals.

Based on the reasons above, abolishing plea bargaining is a bad idea. Bias does not mean that everyone is going to get exactly what was promised in the constitution, but it might be the closest thing to justice that is available within the current constraints of the system.

The pros are that plea bargaining works for the vast majority of criminals and crimes. The cons include the fact that mistakes will be made, people will feel pressure (and cave to it) and a few innocent people will end up spending time in prison for crimes not committed.

Plea bargaining is a form of punishment and it actually lowers the number of years or months that the majority of criminals face if found guilty. It likely does not affect the effectiveness of punishment at all based upon the fact that if the criminals had not been caught doing the crime in the first place then they would not be in a plea bargaining scenario at all.