Research Paper on Plea Bargaining
... While the preference of a trial by jury existed into the early nineteenth century, the emergence of plea bargaining, an agreement between the defense and the prosecution that is willing to lessen the amount or severity of charges in return for the defense’s guilty plea, slowly began. Studies today show that plea bargaining occurs in extraordinary numbers due to various factors prevalent, such as higher caseloads. This movement toward plea bargaining has gotten ample attention from lawyers and non-lawyers alike. ... The negative side of plea bargaining sees the process as one in which guilty parties confess in order to be charged with fewer or less counts while innocent ones that may wish to prove their innocence through trial are, in fact, putting themselves at more risk than those criminals who have accepted their plea bargain. ... This issue is my reason to research this topic. Are the reasons for abolishing plea bargaining overlookable or does the system need to be overhauled? The fact that plea bargaining helps process guilty parties faster and keeps cost down gives reason for the fact that plea bargaining is a necessary part of the criminal justice system and cannot be eliminated unless society is willing to pay for the increased courtroom personnel needed for the higher caseloads that would be processed. The practice of plea bargaining can be traced back as far as 1485 and existed before can be described as a central feature of the United States criminal justice system for at least a century (Gorr). ... It was not until somewhere in the 1920’s that plea bargaining was realized to be more dominant than thought (Palermo). ... cities revealed that at least seventy-four percent, if not more, of reported felony convictions came to pass by a guilty plea (Palmer). ... Plea bargaining turned away from the spotlight for some thirty years and then reappeared in the 1960’s due to one or both of two factors. ... In 1967, the American Bar Association and the President’s Commission on Law Enforcement accepted plea bargaining as a viable practice in the criminal justice system.