Free Plea Bargain Discussion Essay Sample

Response to the Post of Angela Adams

I agree with many of the points made by this post. Although it makes unsupported assumptions about the underlying reasons of plea bargaining, i.e. lazy, overworked and exploitative prosecutors, I think they are very rational assumptions. Same with the observation on the US prison population. Indeed according to the ICPS, the US has the highest prison population in the world at more than 2.2 million (Walmsley 2013). I think that there is an underlying connection between plea bargaining and the US’ prison population rate. Both, I think, show a tendency by the authorities to take the easy way out rather than doing the right thing. As Haley and Bohm (2014) cited “to increase efficiency – meaning speed and finality – crime control advocates prefer plea bargaining” (p. 15). What I do not understand, however, is that although the poster sees plea bargaining as a tool of exploitation, it is not amenable to restricting it. Does the poster then think that the practice should continue?

Response to the Post of Jade Downing

This post has made some very good points – something that I have not thought of immediately although they are really very apparent. Indeed, it does seem that in plea bargaining some of the rights guaranteed by the Constitution, particularly under the 6th Amendment, are being violated, such as the right to a public trial, trial by jury of peers, and witness confrontation (Haley & Bohm 2014, p. 112). However, I do not believe that a person’s rights against the Fifth are being violated by it. The operative word in the self-incrimination clause is ‘compelled’ (Haley & Bohm 2014, p. 109), which means that if the accused agrees to testify against himself then self-incrimination does not apply because rights can be waived. However, when the accused agrees to the plea bargaining because of undue influence, fear or other vitiating factors – then I think the Fifth is violated, particularly the right against self-incrimination and due process.

References

Haley, K. and Bohm, R. (2014). Introduction to Criminal Justice. 8th ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill.
References
Waalmsley, R. (2013). World Prison Population List. International Centre for Prison Studies. http://www.prisonstudies.org/sites/prisonstudies.org/files/resources/downloads/wppl_10. pdf.