What Are the Pros and Cons of Plea Bargaining?
The pros and cons of plea bargaining can be seen in multiple ways. They may apply to the individual defendant trying to determine if a bargain is the best way to go. Lawyers on both sides of a criminal trial also accrue benefits and disadvantages when they bargain. Actually, the criminal system is affected by plea bargaining too, in good ways and bad. When a person is accused of a crime, there is a good chance that their lawyer and the prosecuting attorney will attempt to work out a deal. In plea bargaining, the defendant willingly pleads guilty to a crime lesser than the one for which he has been accused. This means that no trial will occur and the defendant is convicted of a crime after entering a plea of no contest or guilty.