Plea Bargaining Case Analysis

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The mayor of ACME city has made a discretionary decision, based on her opinion of criminals getting off easy due to plea bargaining, to ban the practice of plea bargaining by prosecutors. This discretionary decision is based off of the opinion that criminals are being let off easy and not being properly punished through the process of plea bargaining. Nevertheless, this decision is not a decision that should be agreed with. The argument against the mayor’s decision will be demonstrated through the positive effects that plea bargaining has on courts including the defense, prosecution and judges along with their staff and resources. Secondly, the penalties of removing plea bargaining would not solve any crime problems but would create and inequality …show more content…
When less severe crimes receive the same or similarly harsh punishments as more serious or felonious crimes it creates an inequality within the courtroom. Removing plea bargaining would show results similar to the case from 1975 in Alaska where the Attorney General forbade prosecutors from plea bargaining with offenders. The results from this occurrence showed that the punishments for violent and felonious crimes did not change, but the punishments for less serious offenses and misdemeanors where dramatically increased (Rubinstein & White, 1978). The inequality created from the removal of plea bargaining would have drastic effects on the criminal justice system where the punishment for less serious crimes would be severely punishable but would have little to no effect on felonies and crimes of a violent nature. In the case from Alaska the primary objective was to hinder plea bargaining for the more serious offenders yet the outcome would eliminate the discretionary decision making of the courts and would lead to first time offenders of smaller crimes receiving unequal punishments for their crimes and reduced probability for parole (Rubinstein & White, 1978). First time offenders and property offenders were the two groups shown from the research in Alaska to have been affected most from the removal of plea

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