Donnita Macon
CJA/224
February 11, 2015
Ashley Webb Plea Bargaining Paper
In this essay it will discuss the following: Define plea bargaining, distinguish between charge bargaining and sentence bargaining, compare and contrast the advantages and disadvantages of plea bargaining, and last but least describe how plea bargaining reflects or thwarts the crime control and due process models of criminal justice. According to ‘’Merriam Webster’’, 2015 Plea bargaining is the negotiation of an agreement between a prosecutor and a defendant whereby the defendant is permitted to plead guilty to a reduced charge (para. 1). The example of plea bargaining is the defendant will not be charged with death they well get a years instead of death in prison for committing a crime. First, when it comes to plea bargaining there are two types that the attorneys deal with the most , they are charge bargaining and sentence bargaining: charge bargaining is the most common form of plea bargaining, the defendant agrees to plead guilty to a lesser charge provided that greater charges will be dismissed. A typical example would be to plead to manslaughter rather than murder (Find Law, 2014) Sentence bargaining is a far less common and more tightly controlled that charge bargaining, sentence bargaining is when a defendant agrees to plead guilty to the stated charger in return for a lighter sentence. Typically this must be reviewed by a judge, and man jurisdictions simply don’t allow it (Find Law, 2014). Basically the different between the two are charge bargain occurs when the prosecutor allows a defendant to plead and serve a lesser charge (Larson, 2000). Sentence bargain basically occurs when a defendant is told in advance what his or her sentence will be if they plead guilty.
Second, compare and contrast the advantage and disadvantages of plea barging. Advantages of plea barging are it helps the Court system and State to manage the caseloads.
References: FindLaw. (2014). Retrieved from http://criminal.findlaw.com/criminal-procedure/plea-bargains-in-depth.html Heumann, M. (1977). Advantages and Disadvantages of Plea bargaining. Retrieved from http://www.academia.edu/5014592/Advantages_and_disadvantages_of_plea_bargaining Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.cliffsnotes.com/more-subjects/criminal-justice/the-criminal-justice-system/which-model-crime-control-or-due-process Larson, A. (2000). How Does Plea Bargaining?. Retrieved from http://www.expertlaw.com/library/criminal/plea_bargains.html Merriam Webster. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plea%20bargaining