Disadvantages Of Plea Bargaining

A plea bargain is an agreement that the defendant will plead guilty to the original or another charge in return for some concession from the prosecutor (https://www.fbi.gov/resources/victim-assistance/a-brief-description-of-the-federal-criminal-justice-process). Some of the advantages of plea bargaining are that it helps move the cases through the system much quicker, therefore, it helps to de-clog the court system so that the focus could be on more serious offenses. The person that takes the plea bargain will get a lesser charge which will ultimately end with a lesser sentence. For a person that is facing any kind of criminal prosecution, taking a plea bargain can also take away the stress and the worry of a trial, or being found guilty. The …show more content…
The theory most commonly advanced with regards to regards to plea bargaining, derived from general bargaining theory, is that an agreement is easier when the parties have more information about what the consequences are of a proposed agreement (www.NCJRS.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/192517.pdf). If a person is in fact innocent, they may take a guilty plea because of the fear of being found guilty at a trial. In some cases, the victims or people that are affected by a crime may not feel that they have gotten the justice they deserved. Plea Bargains often times will cause for less thorough investigations and lazy prosecutions, because they expect that a plea agreement will be reached anyway. At times a plea is forced upon a person because it is simply easier for everyone involved. Some people may view plea bargains as being unconstitutional because, as American Citizens we have the Sixth Amendment which guarantees the rights of criminal defendants, including the right to a public trial without unnecessary delay, the right to a lawyer, the right to an impartial jury, and the right to know who your accusers ar and the nature of the charges and evidence against