The Plea
Brittany Johnson
Houston Community College Abstract
My reflection will be on individuals having to take the plea deal when being convicted. Some questions I will bring into this research topic would be; Why are individuals taking the plea deal so freely? Why would lawyers not want to take the case to trial? Who are the type of individuals having to go through this? Is jail overcrowding helping this situation at hand? I will look into all of these things by watching the Frontline episode of The Plea to get all my answers. The Plea
Plea deals are a large part of the court system in society today. The way I see it is that if more people plead guilty and don’t go to trial it is easier for the public defenders to take more cases, since they get paid based off case and not by work load like a private attorney. Our court system is broken and should be fixed to actually fight for justice and not worry about money. As I researched this topic it brings a lot of unfair trials to the light because people feel like they will have a better life by just giving up because the public defenders don’t care. We must identify if the truly don’t care or whether they just want to genuinely want to see you get less of a charge than what you would get if you went to trial. Watching the video confirmed a lot of feelings I had about why the court system makes individuals take guilty pleas. They try to impose all of these monetary consequences on people that can’t afford the fines that they make them pay. The jails are overcrowded because the court systems are allowing people to take guilt please even if they are innocent. The courts are a major source of revenue which is a conflict of actually getting justice for individuals. Sometimes plea bargaining can mean probation instead of jail time or it can sometimes mean less jail time than what you would get if going to trial, but this is all in expense of a person sometimes not telling the truth just so they can go home. Prosecutors shouldn’t be able to threaten the known suspect so that they take the plea deal which can risk them losing their whole life. The consequences they receive cause them to want to not live anymore. Taking away any government assistance received and not being able to vote. The life they expect for you to make out of it afterwards is impossible. Innocent individuals feel like if they don’t take the plea they will go to trial and lose because the prosecutor has already made a decision on sentencing based off of their perception. We have innocent …show more content…
It has been seen in a good light and a bad light with reference to leniency on the criminals or waiving constitutional rights for innocent people. The extensive use of this practice is negative in my aspect because it is a bully tactic used by the court system to gain money and have less trial appearances which includes less work. A fair trial should be granted to individuals and we shouldn’t be able to perceive what we think is true until all evidence is fully understood. The government must find a better way to resolve issues rather than continuation of this coerced process we see as being beneficial but its really more painful than anything.
Brittany Johnson
Houston Community College Abstract
My reflection will be on individuals having to take the plea deal when being convicted. Some questions I will bring into this research topic would be; Why are individuals taking the plea deal so freely? Why would lawyers not want to take the case to trial? Who are the type of individuals having to go through this? Is jail overcrowding helping this situation at hand? I will look into all of these things by watching the Frontline episode of The Plea to get all my answers. The Plea
Plea deals are a large part of the court system in society today. The way I see it is that if more people plead guilty and don’t go to trial it is easier for the public defenders to take more cases, since they get paid based off case and not by work load like a private attorney. Our court system is broken and should be fixed to actually fight for justice and not worry about money. As I researched this topic it brings a lot of unfair trials to the light because people feel like they will have a better life by just giving up because the public defenders don’t care. We must identify if the truly don’t care or whether they just want to genuinely want to see you get less of a charge than what you would get if you went to trial. Watching the video confirmed a lot of feelings I had about why the court system makes individuals take guilty pleas. They try to impose all of these monetary consequences on people that can’t afford the fines that they make them pay. The jails are overcrowded because the court systems are allowing people to take guilt please even if they are innocent. The courts are a major source of revenue which is a conflict of actually getting justice for individuals. Sometimes plea bargaining can mean probation instead of jail time or it can sometimes mean less jail time than what you would get if going to trial, but this is all in expense of a person sometimes not telling the truth just so they can go home. Prosecutors shouldn’t be able to threaten the known suspect so that they take the plea deal which can risk them losing their whole life. The consequences they receive cause them to want to not live anymore. Taking away any government assistance received and not being able to vote. The life they expect for you to make out of it afterwards is impossible. Innocent individuals feel like if they don’t take the plea they will go to trial and lose because the prosecutor has already made a decision on sentencing based off of their perception. We have innocent …show more content…
It has been seen in a good light and a bad light with reference to leniency on the criminals or waiving constitutional rights for innocent people. The extensive use of this practice is negative in my aspect because it is a bully tactic used by the court system to gain money and have less trial appearances which includes less work. A fair trial should be granted to individuals and we shouldn’t be able to perceive what we think is true until all evidence is fully understood. The government must find a better way to resolve issues rather than continuation of this coerced process we see as being beneficial but its really more painful than anything.