Assignment:
Both sides in criminal cases rely on bargains at one time or another, either to avoid a stricter sentence or to get a criminal behind bars at any cost. When a defendant does not accept a plea bargain, he or she is gambling that a judge or jury will see him or her as innocent. If every defendant accepted a plea bargain, no case would ever go to trial and our justice system would be radically different.
Please answer to the following prompts:
- In your opinion, at what point does the encouragement of defendants to plead guilty become unethical? Describe two examples in which this would be the case.
- As a prosecutor, would you be likely to use the plea bargaining tactic to close cases? Why or why not?
- Do you think plea bargains advance or hold back justice? Defend your answer.
References:
T. Scott. (2012). Introduction to criminal justice: Current perspectives from InfoTrac® (1st ed.). Belmont, CA: Cengage