Benefits From Plea Bargaining?

Although the U.S. Constitution guarantees all defendants a trial by jury, individuals entering the criminal justice system today have about a one-in-twenty chance of actually undergoing a trial, with the rest of the cases being plea bargained away. While this approach facilitates the disposition of cases in already overbooked courtrooms, plea bargaining has been the source of a growing amount of criticism as a result of its preemption of due process and the perception of the dilution of fines and penalties that are assessed criminals just to speed things up. To determine the facts, this paper provides a review of the relevant peer-reviewed and scholarly literature concerning plea bargaining to identify the arguments in support and against the practice, followed by a summary of the research and important findings concerning these issues in the conclusion.

Review and Discussion

The definition provided by Black's Law Dictionary (1990)...
[ View Full Essay]