Plea Bargaining

Ernesto Salazar        

JUS-101

October 29, 2017

Josh Cooner

Plea Bargaining

          What is plea bargaining? It is when both the prosecutor and the defendant come to an agreement where the defendant will plead guilty in exchange for a less severe sentencing. The plea bargaining can be seen in both ways. It can be a benefit on where the judges save time from their busy schedule or it can be viewed negatively where the defendant has been let off easily. The plea bargaining is a very controversial subject in the court room.

          The legal system allows the plea-bargaining system because it is a time saver. The court always has a busy schedule and they want to get by the cases quickly and efficiently. The judges would prefer the agreement between both parties than taking either two days or longer to find the prosecutor guilty. Another reason why the plea bargaining is allowed in the legal system is due to no overburden jails. The jails already have a problem by housing inmates and the plea bargaining is the solution to not overwhelm jails. The plea-bargaining structure is used to help the legal system; therefore, it does support the legal system.

          The plea-bargaining system supports the legal system in many ways. For example, the judges take the plea-bargaining as an agreement in both parties. Since both parties came to an agreement, it should settle future disputes and not having this case in the courtroom in the future. Another way it supports the legal system is by having the case settled before it was even started. It can take months or even years to have someone’s case heard in the courtroom. This huge gap of time can be frustrating to both sides. While the prosecutor is worried about going to jail and the defendant wants to put the prosecutor behind bars. Although the prosecutor is agreeing on going to jail with a shorter sentencing, it does question his or her rights.

          The plea bargaining does support the due process of the criminal rights. It supports it because the criminal is not being forced to serve the shorter sentencing since he or she agreed on it. It would be different if the prosecutor was not willing to comply, therefore, the case would go as a regular case and start whenever there is a space available for them. It is a fair to have the plea bargaining because the problem is already being resolved in s civil matter as well as quickly and efficiently. It is all resolved without unfair or unequal treatment and that is the main objective of both the legal system and the due process of criminal rights.