Defendants and prosecutors both benefit from plea bargaining. Defendants will benefit mostly because he or she will receive a lesser sentence in prison or jail than he or she would receive if the case went to trial. The prosecutor will benefit as well because the defendant taking the plea bargain means that the prosecutor will not have to spend an excess amount of time on gathering more evidence and witnesses to the crime committed. If a defendant takes the plea bargain than the case is usually closed and there is not a need for further action, so the prosecutor can move onto another case. There are four types of plea bargaining and each style has an advantage and a disadvantage.
Four Types of Plea Bargaining
The four types of plea bargains include: implicit plea bargaining, charge reduction plea bargaining, judicial plea bargaining, and sentence recommendation bargaining. Implicit plea bargaining is an understanding between the defense counsel and the prosecutor. In this instance a guilty plea will be accepted for a specific offense and will receive corresponding punishment. The second form is charge reduction bargaining. This style of plea bargaining is offered by the prosecutor and the purpose is to minimize the number of crimes committed or the seriousness of the crime. The third form is judicial plea bargaining. This type will occur when a judge makes an offer in court to the defendant if he or she admits to committing the crime. The fourth type of plea bargaining is sentence recommendation. This form of bargaining occurs when the prosecutor offers a specific sentence to the defendant’s admittance of guilt (Champion, 2008).
Advantages of Plea Bargaining
The biggest advantage of a plea bargain for a guilty defendant is he or she will receive a lesser sentence or the sentence could be dropped completely. The biggest advantage for a prosecutor when a plea bargain is issued is that he or she can close a case sooner and move on to another one. When there is a high profile case, in particular, the sooner the case can be solved the better the prosecutor will appear to the public for finding justice. An example of a dropped sentence involves a crime between two engaged people. The woman wanted to break off the engagement and the man became angry and killed her. He disposed of her body. Nobody suspected any foul play and no evidence was able to be found. The man would move away and begin a new life. The prosecutor was still not able to find any information on the woman’s disappearance, so after ten years the prosecutor contacted the man who moved away. The prosecutor explained to the man that if he would explain why he killed her and lead officials to where her body was then no charges would be brought up against him. Many people were upset over this deal, but the prosecutor felt that there would be closure to the family and they would finally know what happened (Champion, 2008).
Disadvantages of Plea Bargaining
Prosecutors have been criticized for an individual’s wealth determining what his or her sentence should be. This may not occur but in some cases it seems that wealth does play a factor. When a celebrity or politician commits a crime he or she may be able to use their stature to bribe their way into a lesser sentence. Another disadvantage to plea bargaining is gender disparity. There are instances where one gender will receive special treatment or consideration when making a plea bargain. This should not occur but it does. A third disadvantage to plea bargaining is having the wrong defense attorney. In many cases the defense attorney was appointed by the court and the defense attorney may not do the best of his or her ability to defend the client. A fourth disadvantage to plea bargaining involves enabling habitual offenders to continue committing crime. If an offender has committed crimes before and received a plea bargain, then he or she commits a few more crimes, he or she may be likely to only offer information if a plea bargain is offered. If the information is vital enough than a plea may be what the prosecutor will have to do to retrieve that information (Champion, 2008).
Reference
Champion, D.J., Hartley, R.D., & Rabe, G.A. (2008). Criminal courts: Structure, process, and issues (2nd ed). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall.
