A plea bargain is an agreement between a prosecutor and a defendant where the defendant pleads guilty in return for a lesser offense. In this case, when a defendant agrees to plead guilty it can actually help their case greatly; if a defendant is obviously guilty then they will be able to get the trial over with more efficiently and hopefully get a better outcome. They're almost always able to keep the trial more private, there will be less offensive records on one's record, or they might even be able get out of jail on probation or prevent deportation if they are a noncitizen. I feel as though a plea bargain is definitely beneficial when one is guilty, but would you risk being found innocent at trial? I feel as though when plea bargains are made, police and attorneys do not take the time to really investigate and instead they rely on the deal being made and not really giving attention to the legal consequences that should be given. Would you risk a chance to be given an innocent verdict for a plea bargain?
I agree with how you mentioned the how the Plea bargain can fail when someone is innocent. I personally think that the plea bargain, despite the advantages it can give to those who want a quick and non-expensive trial, is in some way a failure to give fair trial to the person accused of the crime. This becomes much more apparent when those who are poor enough to not be able to afford their own lawyer for the trial, are given a public one who will often persist in taking the plea deal due to the amount of money it would cost to go through an entire trial, even if the person accused of a crime is clearly innocent.
ReplyDeleteIf I was accused of a crime and had to go to court, I would attempt to avoid taking the plea bargain at much as possible if I know that I am innocent of the crime i'm accused of. I want to ensure that a fair trial would take place to evaluate whether a crime had been committed or not, no-matter who is being accused of the crime.
It depends on the situation. If I were truly innocent and had evidence to prove it, I would not agree to a plea bargain. We watched a video in class of multiple people accepting plea bargains for a crime they did not commit, and then once it was proved they were innocent, they were still held responsible for the crime because of their plea bargain. For this reason, I would not accept it. However, if I were guilty of a crime, I would definitely agree to a plea bargain in order to minimize my punishment.
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