In the PBS Frontline documentary, “The Plea,” written, produced, and directed by Ofra Bikel, released on June 17, 2004, legal cases are intertwined around the central issue of the justice system failing American people through the use of plea bargains. The main problem is that innocent people are pleading guilty, and they do not necessarily know what making that plea means for them in the future. Another issue is that certain lawyers and judges in the criminal justice system rush to convict people without sufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt; they essentially just want someone to pin the crime on and have that same person believe that a guilty plea is his or her only way out of getting a lengthy sentence. Interestingly enough,
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When she was offered a reduced sentence, twice, in exchange for an admission of guilt, Jarrett refused the offers, as she thought it morally questionable to admit guilt for something she did not do. In the film, she states that “it's just morally wrong to say you did something you know in your heart you didn't do … I might have walked free physically, but in my spirit and in my soul, I would have had to have lived with that the rest of my life. And I couldn't live with me like that” (Bikel, 2004). This statement drew my attention completely. Jarrett was convicted based only on the accounts from an unreliable eyewitness, the only evidence. This witness first claimed that he could not see the face of who was in the car, or whether if it was a man or a woman. Then, he changes his statement and outright says that the person in the car was Jarrett. This is where the criminal justice system failed her, and she is serving time for something she did not do, so there is great need for situations like these to be avoided. Thus, the criminal justice system should make steps towards improving the way in which they deal with cases and criminals. Members who work in the criminal justice system should not be afraid of or be too lazy to take a case to trial. Instead, they should put all their effort into the case and not take the easy way out with a plea
When she was offered a reduced sentence, twice, in exchange for an admission of guilt, Jarrett refused the offers, as she thought it morally questionable to admit guilt for something she did not do. In the film, she states that “it's just morally wrong to say you did something you know in your heart you didn't do … I might have walked free physically, but in my spirit and in my soul, I would have had to have lived with that the rest of my life. And I couldn't live with me like that” (Bikel, 2004). This statement drew my attention completely. Jarrett was convicted based only on the accounts from an unreliable eyewitness, the only evidence. This witness first claimed that he could not see the face of who was in the car, or whether if it was a man or a woman. Then, he changes his statement and outright says that the person in the car was Jarrett. This is where the criminal justice system failed her, and she is serving time for something she did not do, so there is great need for situations like these to be avoided. Thus, the criminal justice system should make steps towards improving the way in which they deal with cases and criminals. Members who work in the criminal justice system should not be afraid of or be too lazy to take a case to trial. Instead, they should put all their effort into the case and not take the easy way out with a plea