Very often, plea bargains allow the defendant to agree to perform some socially beneficial tasks for the purpose of deterring similar crimes which are more beneficial to society than traditional incarceration. For example, those charged with littering might agree to clean up highways while wearing signs publicizing the embarrassing consequences of littering or those charged with petty thefts like shoplifting wearing signs identifying their crimes publicly in lieu of ninety-day jail sentences. In other instances, plea bargains in which defendants agree to conditions including reimbursing victims of their crimes also serve more social utility than imposing a term of incarceration without any restitution to the victims.
Besides the issues of cost savings associated with plea bargains in lieu of trial, incarceration itself is tremendously expensive to administrate.
Furthermore, in some cases, defendants convicted of relatively non-serious crimes could be seriously harmed by incarceration alongside dangerous criminals.
The Problems with Plea Bargains:
The principal problem with plea bargains is that where they are not controlled carefully, they can result in the premature return of dangerous or career criminals to the streets, where innocent citizens are exposed to unnecessary dangers. More fundamentally, many of those opposed to plea bargains suggest that allowing criminals to bargain for a reduced charge conflicts with the...
Plea Bargain The objective of this study is to answer as to whether justice is served when a defendant is allowed to plea-bargain his or her case in court and why. This process is such that the prosecutor enables the defendant to plead guilty to a charge that is lesser than the original charge with less maximum sentence than the original charge. There are many various factors that determine whether each case
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
" However, in 1852, the Massachusetts legislature removed the prosecution's power to nol pros without the judge's consent. This eliminated the prosecution's key leverage over defendants in liquor cases: the power to charge and then drop some charges in exchange for a plea. Sure enough, the number of clear plea bargains dropped dramatically, and the number of trials increased concomitantly (Fisher, 2003)." BENEFITS There are numerous benefits to using the plea bargain system.
Benefits From Plea Bargaining? Although the U.S. Constitution guarantees all defendants a trial by jury, individuals entering the criminal justice system today have about a one-in-twenty chance of actually undergoing a trial, with the rest of the cases being plea bargained away. While this approach facilitates the disposition of cases in already overbooked courtrooms, plea bargaining has been the source of a growing amount of criticism as a result of
Police In this scenario of what may be an instance of domestic violence, the officer has the option of simply talking to the couple, determining what is wrong and issuing a warning-or pressing charges against both or one of the participants for disorderly conduct. The police officer can simply use his or her presence to influence the couple's behavior or can use the actual weight of the law. The officer will
Administration The basic principles and functions of personnel administration as applied in the field of criminal justice include recruiting, selecting, hiring, placing, evaluating, training, educating, dismissing, promoting, firing, and career development for law enforcement professionals. There are three major current issues in the field. The first major issue involves what educational requirements should there be for police officers. The second major issue is the prior misuse of females in law
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