Plea bargain
A legal arrangement exchanging a guilty plea for prosecutorial concessions.
A plea bargain, also known as a plea agreement or plea deal, is a legal arrangement in criminal law where the defendant agrees to plead guilty or no contest to a charge in exchange for concessions from the prosecutor. These concessions can include a reduction in the severity of the charges, the dismissal of some charges, or a more lenient sentencing recommendation. Plea bargaining serves as a mechanism to expedite the resolution of criminal cases, allowing both the prosecution and the defense to avoid the time, expense, and uncertainty of a trial. It is a prevalent practice in the United States, where it resolves about 90% of criminal cases, and has been adopted in various forms in other legal systems worldwide.
- field
- Criminal law
- known_for
- Resolving about 90% of criminal cases in the United States through negotiated guilty pleas
- forms
- Charge bargaining, sentence bargaining, count bargaining
- criticism
- May encourage innocent defendants to plead guilty out of fear of harsher penalties
- global_status
- Common in common law jurisdictions; generally not permitted or highly regulated in civil law jurisdictions
Lore & Background
Plea bargaining takes different forms, such as charge bargaining, where a defendant pleads guilty to a lesser offense, or sentence bargaining, where the expected sentence is agreed upon before a guilty plea. Count bargaining involves pleading guilty to a subset of multiple charges. While plea bargaining can reduce the burden on courts and offer defendants a chance for lighter sentences, it has been subject to criticism. Detractors argue that it may encourage defendants, including the innocent, to plead guilty out of fear of harsher penalties if convicted at trial. Proponents emphasize its role in conserving judicial resources and providing a degree of certainty for all parties involved.
Reader's Guide
Plea bargaining has been defended as a voluntary exchange that leaves both parties better off, in that defendants have many procedural and substantive rights, including a right to trial and to appeal a guilty verdict. By pleading guilty, defendants waive those rights in exchange for a commitment from the prosecutor, such as a reduced charge or more favorable sentence. For a defendant who believes that conviction is almost certain, a discount to the sentence is more useful than an unlikely chance of acquittal. The prosecutor secures a conviction while avoiding the need to commit time and resources to trial preparation and a possible trial. Plea bargaining similarly helps preserve money and resources for the court in which the prosecution occurs. It also means that victims and witnesses do not have to testify at the trial, which in some cases may be traumatic. However, the practice is criticized on grounds that its close relationship with rewards, threats and coercion potentially endangers the correct legal outcome. Author Martin Yant discusses the use of coercion, noting that people who might have been acquitted because of lack of evidence, but who are in fact truly innocent, will often plead guilty to the charge out of fear. John H. Langbein argues that the modern American system of plea bargaining is comparable to the medieval European system of judicial torture, stating that the difference between having limbs crushed or suffering extra years of imprisonment is of degree, not kind.
Did You Know?
- Plea bargaining resolves about 90% of criminal cases in the United States.
- It can take forms such as charge bargaining, sentence bargaining, and count bargaining.
- In the United Kingdom, the prosecutor's code states that prosecutors should never go ahead with more charges than necessary just to encourage a defendant to plead guilty.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a plea bargain in criminal law?
A plea bargain is a negotiated deal in which a defendant agrees to enter a guilty or no-contest plea, and in return the prosecutor offers concessions such as dropping charges, reducing the offense level, or recommending a lighter sentence.
What are the main forms a plea bargain can take?
The three recognized types are charge bargaining (trading a more serious charge for a lesser one), count bargaining (having some counts dismissed), and sentence bargaining (negotiating the recommended penalty up front).
Why do so many criminal cases end in a plea bargain?
Because it lets both sides sidestep the cost, delay, and unpredictability of a full trial, it accounts for roughly ninety percent of resolved criminal cases in the United States.
How does plea bargaining differ across legal systems?
It is a staple of common-law jurisdictions like the U.S. and U.K., whereas civil-law countries either prohibit the practice outright or subject it to very strict regulatory limits.
What is the most common criticism of plea bargaining?
Critics argue that the pressure of facing potentially much harsher penalties at trial can coerce defendants who are actually innocent into accepting a guilty plea simply to avoid the risk of a severe sentence.
More in Criminal Law And Procedure 1-19
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