Criminal Justice Research Summary
Read the attached report, Research Summary of Plea and Charge Bargaining.
Post: Provide a summary and reaction to what you learn. Discuss issues such as what is plea and charge bargaining, how often are they used, how are they are used, and why they are used. Consider the following:
- How has the overwhelming use of plea bargaining given prosecutors more discretion over case outcomes than judges?
- What is meant by there being a ‘trial penalty’ for offenders who opt to go to trial and are convicted instead of pleading guilty prior to trial?
- What legal characteristics increase the likelihood that defendants will plead guilty? Extralegal?
- What is your opinion of the practice of plea bargaining?
- Do you think that our justice system relies a bit too much on plea bargaining?
- Should we refer to our system as justice as a system of negotiated justice as opposed to an adversarial system of justice?
Reply: Respond to the post of at least one of your classmates. Your response must be at least 75 words.