The Role Of Plea Bargaining

The Role Of Plea Bargaining

Plea bargaining plays an intricate role in the criminal justice system in America today, and it’s no coincidence how it has changed the court system in its entirety. The role of the plea bargain in the criminal justice system is often misunderstood and frequently critiqued. Plea bargains help to avoid lengthy trials and help to manage the caseload that passes through court, but they come with the cost of giving potential offenders more lenient sentencing and in some cases risk the conviction of innocent defendants. Despite being viewed as a problem by some eyes of the public, plea bargains are used in over 90% of cases that have a conviction. Learning about what plea bargaining is entails how court decisions have helped shape both its importance in the court system and the roles of key court players, along with proving that although the plea bargain is a necessary evil, it is the most efficient way to determine sentences as part of the criminal justice system when overseen properly by the courts and should be regulated by holding retrials for those given faulty advice.
Plea bargaining can be defined as, “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” (Black’s Law Dictionary). This means that although the lawyers in plea bargains ultimately determine the fate of the defendant, a judge still has to approve the agreement because it is technically still a contract between the prosecutor and the defendant. There are some discrepancies in state and local jurisdictions that may influence various plea bargains, but the optimal goal of the plea bargain is to resolve a case in a manner that is satisfactory for both parties. Studies have shown that plea bargaining has been proven to greatly reduce the magnitude of sentencing and fines compared to going to trial, although one has to take into account more severe cases are more often taken to trial than...

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