The Plea bargain upfront

Gwen Ellen Ochsenbein August 10, 2007

Plea bargain is a concurrence between the defense and prosecution (the state) before a conviction is reached. The defendant pleads guilty to the charges in return for a lesser sentence, conviction or even for sentence leniency. Defendants must weigh the pros and cons whether or not they are guilty. They must also reflect on how good the evidence is against them. They must also be conscious of the Constitutional rights they are being asked to give up in lieu of pleading guilty.

A prosecutor’s point of view, the plea bargain is a trouble-free way to draw to a close the criminal case to conclusion. The prosecutor does not have to provide evidence for the case at hand beyond a shadow of a doubt. The effectiveness of a prosecutor is characteristically measured by how many victorious convictions of the criminal cases they can receive.

There are four distinctive types of Plea bargains and are listed below.

Implicit Plea is where the defendant pleads guilty with the assumption the defendant will receive a lighter sentence.
Sentence Recommendation is when the defendant gives a guilty plea and the prosecutor recommends a sentence to be carried out.
Charge reduction-the prosecutor offers a charge reduction in exchange for a guilty plea.
Judicial- the judge offers a specific guilty plea offer.

If the judge does not approve the agreement, the defendant may extract the guilty plea. The judge must approve or disapprove the plea agreement .The judge must also be sure the defendant understands each of the Constitutional rights that the defendant is giving up and that a factual basis exists for the charge. This must be done in open court.

In federal cases, the judges are not permitted to make plea bargains or do any negotiating with plea-bargaining. (18 U.S.C. Fed.R. CRIM.PR 11)

Tags: Plea Bargains , Law , Politics , Essays