Plea Bargaining

Pleading for Justice

Plea bargaining by its very nature implies negotiation, which in turn means that two or more parties are seeking to achieve specific goals with the cooperation of the other parties. In the absence of plea bargaining the parties would face each other in court as adversaries in front of a referee and their conduct and the trial's proceedings would be strictly controlled according to the law and judicial precedence. In contrast, plea bargaining allows the parties to be more creative when seeking their goals, but without the trappings and constitutional safety nets that a trial provides (Bowers, 2007). Plea bargaining is therefore a less formal legal proceeding that nevertheless determines the fate of the accused with respect to criminal convictions, sentencing, and fines.

The parties with a vested interest in the outcome of a criminal plea bargain are the police, accused, prosecutor, judge, and hopefully...
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