Essay Sample on Pleading in Prosecution: Pros and Cons of Plea Bargaining

Introduction

In many cases, there are certain critical decisions that people who are undergoing prosecution should make to be on the safer side. One of the crucial decisions is that they should plead. A plea is defined as an official statement issued on behalf of an accused person or made by the accused person in court in a bid to respond to the charge (s) made against him or her (Helm & Reyn 2017). In a real spectrum, the use of plea bargaining has its pros and cons which could affect both the prosecutor and the defendant. However, there is one side of the plea bargaining that outweighs the other. This paper will discuss why it significant to use plea bargaining, and hence the various areas of a plea bargain that I would like to get more information on.

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Even though plea bargaining is very advantageous in the sense that it speeds up the process of the justice system, many disadvantages are associated with it. With plea bargaining, a case would skip several hearing and trials and would make it possible to go straight to judge to deliberate on sentencing (Rotaru, 2019). However, despite the shortening of a trial period, plea bargaining has many cons.

The key disadvantage of plea bargaining is the fact that innocent people can still find themselves in jail and this has resulted in the establishment of limits for which plea bargaining could occur (Helm & Reyn 2017). This is to make the people who are innocent not to feel guilty like they are compelled to struggle with going to trials. Thus, a critical evaluation of plea bargaining paints a picture that it denounces that right to have a trial by jury. Again, with plea bargaining there could be poor investigatory procedures that could make the innocent to be jailed; there are still chances that criminal records can be created for innocent individuals. A plea bargain that is the agreement between the prosecutor and defendant is can still be affected by the decision of the judges. Judges are not compelled to follow plea bargaining. They can still revoke the agreements and decide that a case proceeds to trials for instance if they feel that the plea bargain is being issued in bad faith (Rotaru, 2019). Another critical aspect of a plea bargain is that is seeming may provide a soft justice for the guilty. This is because studies have revealed that plea bargaining has in many circumstances provided lighter sentences even if one could be guilty.

In that connection, I would wish to learn more about how plea bargaining can be made effective so that the innocent are not jailed and that the guilty are not exposed to lighter sentences. Besides, I would like to know the significance of a lawyer in the plea bargaining process. Another very important spectrum that I would learn is how plea bargaining can be withdrawn after being initiated. Again, I would like to learn more about the various types of plea bargaining and their effectiveness in various cases.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the information I want to get from studying plea bargaining is aimed to help me to know how plea bargaining is effective and would be made more adequate now that I believe that it has several cons than pros. I believe that it is not part of the justice system to get criminals off the street and put innocent people into prisons, however, plea bargaining still has these components and thus my worried is focused on how this scope could be changed. Therefore, the aspects that could help in neutralizing the cons of plea bargaining are very important for students who want be lawyers or even individuals who would find themselves as prosecutors, defendants, lawyers judges in various courts.

References

Helm, R. K., & Reyna, V. F. (2017). Logical but incompetent plea decisions: A new approach to plea bargaining grounded in cognitive theory. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 23(3), 367. Retrieved from: https://psycnet.apa.org/buy/2017-08229-001

Rotaru, V. (2019). Plea bargaining as a special form of penal procedure. Criminology. Retrieved from: http://www.cnaa.md/en/thesis/3131/