Plea Bargaining Issues

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Introduction Plea bargaining according to Meridian-Webster dictionary (2015), is defined as a process in which a person who is accused of a crime and is allowed to the he or she is guilty of a less serious crime in order to be given a less severe punishment. Once a defendant enters a plea bargain they are not allowed to recant their plea. This process can be initiated by both the prosecutor and the defense attorney. If a defendant’s lawyer offers the plea bargain to the prosecutor and it is accepted, it is a win for the defense. A prosecutor’s plea is usually one that is not accepted at first. This paper will attempt to identify the associated issues with plea bargaining, as well as answer the question of does plea bargaining undetermined …show more content…
These offenders are offered plea bargains because in turn they are wanting lesser sentencing as well as are willing to work for the prosecution. In 2011, a college student was arrested for repeatedly driving with a revoked license, his fourth offense. His complaint was not with the prosecutor but with his lawyer. The defendant stated that the conduct of his attorney was unethical and “amounted to ineffective assistance, which lead to the argument of the attorney that the Constitution only guarantees the right to a fair trial not a fair plea bargain. (Trotenberg, 2011). The defendant is this case was charged with a felony because of prior offenses was not offered a plea …show more content…
Offering bribes to judges and attorneys to sway a plea bargain is non-ethical and stiffer penalties should implemented for such offenses. Newton (2011), states that a defense counsel’s lack of competence at sentencing, for example, failing to understand and properly apply the sentencing guidelines may result a ruling that the defense counsel provided constitutionally ineffectiveness assistance of counsel, which in turn results in resentencing. A third issues is when defense counsel fails to discuss with the defendant the terms of the plea deal offered by the prosecutor and accepts the conditions on behalf of their client. Finally, a defendant’s statements about his or her or other material such as biological information to a U.S. pretrial services officer during an interview before the detention hearing or to a magistrate judge at the defendant’s initial court appearance and before they are able to obtain counsel is an ethical violation (Newton

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