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As
criminal courts become ever more crowded, prosecutors and judges feel increased pressure to move cases
quickly through the system.
Trials can take days, weeks or sometimes months while
guilty pleas can often be arranged in minutes. Also, the outcome
of any given trial is usually unpredictable--but a plea bargain
provides both prosecution and defense with some control over the
result.
For these
reasons and others, and despite its many critics, plea
bargaining is very common. More than 90% of convictions come
from negotiated pleas, which means that less than 10% of
criminal cases result in a trial. And though some still view
plea bargains as secret, sneaky arrangements that are
antithetical to the people's will, the federal government and
many states have written rules that explicitly set out how plea
bargains may be arranged and accepted by the court.
Defendants' Incentives for Accepting
Plea Bargains
A discussion of the most
common reasons why a defendant might want to enter into a plea
bargain. For most defendants, the principal benefit of plea
bargaining is receiving a lighter sentence for a less severe
charge than might result from taking the case to trial and
losing. Another fairly obvious benefit that defendants can reap
from plea bargaining is that if they're represented by private
counsel, they can save a bundle on attorney fees. It almost
always takes more time and effort to bring a case to trial than
to negotiate and handle a plea bargain.
There may be other benefits as well:
Getting Out of Jail.
Defendants
who are held in custody--who do not qualify for release on their
own recognizance or who either do not have the right to bail or
cannot afford bail--may get out of jail immediately following
the judge's acceptance of a plea. Depending on the offense, the
defendant may get out altogether, on probation, with or without
some community service obligations. Or, the defendant may have
to serve more time, but will still get out much sooner than if
he or she insisted on going to trial.
Resolving the Matter Quickly.
This has the intangible benefit, touched on above, of providing
resolution to the stress of being charged with a crime. Going to
trial usually requires a much longer wait--and causes much more
stress--than taking a plea bargain.
Having Fewer or Less Serious
Offenses on One's Record.
Pleading guilty or no contest in
exchange for a reduction in the number of charges or the
seriousness of the offenses looks a lot better on a defendant's
record than the convictions that might result following trial.
This can be particularly important if the defendant is ever
convicted in the future. For example, a second conviction for
driving under the influence (DUI) may carry mandatory jail time;
whereas if the first DUI offense had been bargained down to
reckless driving, there may be no jail time for the "second" DUI.
Even for people who are never
rearrested, getting a charge reduced from a felony to a
misdemeanor, or from a felony that constitutes a strike under a
"three strikes" law to one that doesn't, can prove to
be a critical benefit. Some professional licenses must be
forfeited upon conviction of a felony. Future employers may not
want to hire someone previously convicted of a felony. Felony
convictions may be used in certain court proceedings (even civil
cases) to discredit people who testify as witnesses. Felons
can't own or possess firearms. And in many jurisdictions, felons
can't vote.
Having a Less Socially Stigmatizing
Offense on One's Record.
Prosecutors may reduce charges that
are perceived as socially offensive to less offensive charges in
exchange for a guilty plea. For example, a prosecutor may reduce
a molestation or rape case to an assault. This can have a major
impact on the defendant's relationship with friends and family.
Perhaps even more critical, sometimes defendants convicted of
stigmatizing offenses may be at a greater risk of being harmed
(or killed) in prison than if they are convicted of an offense
that doesn't carry the same stigma.
Avoiding Hassles.
Some people
plead guilty--especially to routine, minor first
offenses--without hiring a lawyer. If they waited to go to
trial, they would have to find a good lawyer and spend both time
and money preparing for trial.
Avoiding Publicity.
Famous
people, ordinary people who depend on their reputation in the
community to earn a living and people who don't want to bring
further embarrassment to their families all may chose to plead
guilty or no contest to keep their names out of the public eye.
While news of the plea itself may be public, the news is
short-lived compared to news of a trial. And rarely is a
defendant's background explored in the course of a plea bargain
to the extent it may be done at trial.
Keeping Others Out of the Case.
Some defendants plead guilty to take the blame (sometimes called
the "rap") for someone else, or to end the case
quickly so that others who may be jointly responsible are not
investigated.
Prosecutors' and Judges' Incentives
for Accepting Plea Bargains
Crowded calendars
and overburdened prisons provide powerful incentives to many
judges and prosecutors.
For a judge, the
primary incentive for accepting a plea bargain is to move along
a crowded calendar. Most judges simply don't have time to try
every case that comes through the door.
Additionally,
because jails are overcrowded, judges may face the prospect of
having to release convicted people (housed in the same
facilities as those awaiting trial) before they complete their
sentences. Judges often reason that using plea bargains to
"process out" offenders who are not likely to do much
jail time leads to fewer problems with overcrowding.
For a prosecutor,
the judge's concerns about a clogged calendar are the
prosecutor's concerns as well. When the judge is bogged down,
the judge puts pressure on the prosecutors to move cases along
quicker. To keep judges happy and keep the machine rolling
prosecutors must keep "the bodies" moving (as criminal
defendants are most unfortunately referred to by some courthouse
regulars).
Of course,
prosecutors are also concerned about their own calendars.
Crowded calendars mean that the prosecutor's staff is
overworked. Plea bargains tend to lighten everyone's caseload.
Because plea bargains are much quicker and require less work
than trials, they are also easier on the prosecutor's budget.
With today's cutbacks on already slim resources, prosecutors
feel they will have additional time and resources for more
important cases if they conclude a large number of less serious
cases with plea bargains.
Another benefit to
the prosecution is an assured conviction. No matter how strong
the evidence, no case is ever a "slam dunk." The
prosecution may wage a long, expensive and valiant battle, and
still lose the case as did prosecutors in the O.J. Simpson
criminal trial, for example.
Plea bargains also
give prosecutors flexibility. For instance, they can offer a
deal to someone whom, though guilty, has given testimony about a
co-defendant or helped resolve some other troubling case.
Finally, prosecutors
may use plea bargains to circumvent laws they don't agree with.
For instance, a prosecutor may disagree with laws prohibiting
possession for personal use of small amounts of marijuana, so
the prosecutor's office may have an unwritten policy of giving
all such offenders "offers they can't refuse," such as
a $25 fine and 10 hours of community service. Or, in some cases,
the prosecutor may simply dismiss the case in the interests of
justice.
You
can call H. Michael Steinberg @ (303) 627-7777, or send E-mail to hmsteinberg@home.com
or
Fax him a note Toll Free @ 1- (877)533-6276.
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