PLEA BARGAINING

Plea Bargaining

Plea Bargaining: Who benefits from plea bargaining?

Introduction

Plea bargaining is a commonly used prosecutorial method to dispose of a case without going to trial. A plea bargain or negotiated plea is an agreement between the defense and the prosecutor in which a defendant pleads guilty to a criminal charge and in exchange he or she expects to receive some form of consideration from the prosecution (Neubauer, 2002). Most cases never make it to trial and more than 80% of criminal cases filed end with the defendant entering a guilty plea. (Rein, 2007). The plea bargain was a prosecutorial tool used ...