The Advantages Of Plea Bargaining In The Criminal Justice System

Interviewer: What are the advantages of plea bargaining?

Michael Kramer: Well the usual advantage of a plea bargain is you avoid the risk of an adverse decision after a trial. A trial is a roll of the dice; there is no guarantee of results – I mean an experienced attorney can tell you what he or she thinks would be the probable result, but there’s absolutely no guarantee because you never know what a jury is going to do. And a lot of times you don’t know all the evidence that’s going to be presented against you. So rather than roll the dice, many, many people agree to accept a plea bargain. It could be out of fear of what an adverse verdict would involve. It could be a financial decision – many people can’t afford to go trial; can’t afford to put forth a defense that would be necessary in their case, and therefore they choose to enter into a plea bargain if they feel they’re not going to be hurt too bad by it.

Disadvantages of Plea Bargaining in the Criminal Justice System

Interviewer: What would you say are some of the disadvantages of plea bargaining?

Michael Kramer: Well the disadvantage of a plea bargain is, you’re going to be convicted of something. You may be totally innocent of the original charge – you may feel you have absolutely no culpability in the case. But yet it’s still not worth it for you to risk going to trial; it’s not worth it for you to engage in the expense of going to trial – so you agree to plea to something less even though you feel the first instance, you’re not guilty of anything. So the biggest disadvantage is, you’re going to be convicted of something.

Most Experienced Attorneys will Know whether a Case is Amenable to a Plea Bargain After Hearing the Facts of a Case

Interviewer: At what point would my attorney know whether or not to take the plea bargain? Could they decide during like my initial consultation? Like if I call them up and explain my case, will an attorney sometimes know that, ‘You know what? This sounds like something we may have to take a plea bargain on’?

Michael Kramer: Most experienced attorneys will have a feel for the situation after the facts of a case are described, and know from experience whether the case is going to be more amendable to a plea bargain, or not. So it obviously depends on the attorney, but the more experience the better.

Typical Crimes that Plea Bargains are Generally Utilized For

Interviewer: What are most typical types of crime that people utilize a plea bargain for?

Michael Kramer: Well there’s no typical crime. Anything – even something as simple as a traffic matter; and as serious as a murder case – can be resolved by a plea bargain. Any case that can be resolved by a plea bargain. Those where plea bargains are most common involve first offenses in rather minor crimes.

Interviewer: And like some of these crimes would be along the lines of like theft, maybe –

Michael Kramer: Yes shoplifting type of offenses, drug offenses, first offense assaults – where the injures are not particularly serious. It could be any case if the facts -, as I said earlier – the facts of the case and background of the defendant are such that he should be granted a plea bargain. It is up to an attorney to put forth all relevant factors and convince the district attorney to offer the most favorable plea bargain.