Pros and Cons of Plea Bargining
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Pros and Cons of Plea Bargains
Linda-Jean Wilder
CJA/224
August 23, 2010
Pros and Cons of Plea Bargains
Throughout history those that have committed crimes against society have tried to make deals to obtain the charges against themselves reduced through bargaining with the prosecution before going to trial. The Constitution of the Unites States provides for the right to a speedy trial and a trial by a jury of one’s peers but with trial dockets so full, plea bargains are an accepted process in eliminating trials.
History of Plea Bargaining
In the early days of common law a guilty plea by a defendant was seen as a sufficient means for a conviction. There were, however, occasional instances in the nineteenth century in which a plea bargain was used but scholars studying the eighteenth-century found no signs if any type of plea bargaining in the justice system. What was found was the judges would recommend as well as urge a defendant to rethink the confession of guilt and stand trial.
What seemed rare prior to the nineteenth century, dispositions of for minor misdemeanor offenses had been the subject of either express or implicit bargains. In a misdemeanor court the defendant in the case were permitted a plea of nolo contendere., meaning a defendant could submit to the conviction, pay the amount of the fine but not admitting to guilt. In non misdemeanor cases judges did not allow nolo pleas.
By the end of the nineteenth century on into the early part of the twentieth century, plea bargaining, which seemed to be low by numbers, until the l920’s when a study was done by the crime commission that showed exactly how much it was used in the justice system. As crime is continuing on the upswing as we move out of the first decade of the twenty-first century so will the number of plea bargains increase.
Pros of Plea Bargaining...
Linda-Jean Wilder
CJA/224
August 23, 2010
Pros and Cons of Plea Bargains
Throughout history those that have committed crimes against society have tried to make deals to obtain the charges against themselves reduced through bargaining with the prosecution before going to trial. The Constitution of the Unites States provides for the right to a speedy trial and a trial by a jury of one’s peers but with trial dockets so full, plea bargains are an accepted process in eliminating trials.
History of Plea Bargaining
In the early days of common law a guilty plea by a defendant was seen as a sufficient means for a conviction. There were, however, occasional instances in the nineteenth century in which a plea bargain was used but scholars studying the eighteenth-century found no signs if any type of plea bargaining in the justice system. What was found was the judges would recommend as well as urge a defendant to rethink the confession of guilt and stand trial.
What seemed rare prior to the nineteenth century, dispositions of for minor misdemeanor offenses had been the subject of either express or implicit bargains. In a misdemeanor court the defendant in the case were permitted a plea of nolo contendere., meaning a defendant could submit to the conviction, pay the amount of the fine but not admitting to guilt. In non misdemeanor cases judges did not allow nolo pleas.
By the end of the nineteenth century on into the early part of the twentieth century, plea bargaining, which seemed to be low by numbers, until the l920’s when a study was done by the crime commission that showed exactly how much it was used in the justice system. As crime is continuing on the upswing as we move out of the first decade of the twenty-first century so will the number of plea bargains increase.
Pros of Plea Bargaining...