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Plea Bargaining

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Plea Bargaining Paper
Daniel Herrera
CJA/224 Introduction to Criminal Courts
Dr. Beverly Spencer
9/1/2014

Plea Bargaining Paper Plea bargaining is one of the most important pieces of criminal court proceedings that can occur. Plea bargaining is that chance in which a defendant can choose to not be punished or charged as harshly as they should be. Plea bargaining is a very common thing used within the courthouse and even though it can be good for an individual it can also be bad if not completely understood. The thing with a plea bargain is that at any time a judge can overthrow a bargain and still send the case through strenuous court hours. Plea bargaining is however very important because over ninety percent of all criminal cases are built and completed due to plea bargaining. Plea bargaining can be defined as an agreement between a prosecutor and a defendant whereby the defendant is allowed to plead guilty to a lesser charge rather than risk conviction for a graver crime in order to avoid a protracted trial or to win the defendant’s cooperation as a witness (“Plea Bargaining”, 2014). Now a plea bargain can mean everything to nothing towards a case. The prosecution would use these types of bargains for leverage against the defendant. What is meant by this is that the defendant can be offered to give a testimony of the events which can eventually lead into a charge and conviction into a higher profiled case. This is the case most of the time; usually the prosecution offers a plea bargain to reduce on court time and possibly to show a little mercy on the defense of the case. The prosecution is all about plea bargaining but so is the defense side of the court. The defense would seek plea bargains in order to eliminate or lessen the risk of a severe sentence post-conviction. There are two types of plea bargaining that is used and should not be confused with

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