Plea Bargaining

PLEA BARGAINING’S LACK OF FORMAL PROCESS Additionally, plea negotiations lack a formal process, where unrestricted prosecutorial discretion coupled with minimal judicial oversight gives rise to inconsistent sentencing and a non-transparent system. In the current system, prosecutors have almost unlimited discretion which can lead to overcharging, where the accused may face “duplicate charges for single acts or crimes charged at higher degrees than the evidence can reasonably support” (Work, 2014, p. 462), creating cases that are easier to leverage into guilty pleas. This is possible because using their discretion, prosecutors can change "charges and fact allegations” (Sherrin, 2011, p. 17) without any accountability. Furthermore, prosecutorial discretion is essentially unreviewable and “immune from judicial review” (Phillips, 2015, p. 47) unless the case is grossly mishandled.
This leaves the defendant at a significant disadvantage at trial, where the fair treatment of the accused completely depends on the prosecutor 's behaviour. This unreviewability, along with the "low visibility" (Phillips, 2015, p. 50) of the prosecutor 's decisions leave prosecutor 's without any accountability to both the justice system and the public. Additionally, due the …show more content…
However, the judge does not have to inquire into “whether the accused actually committed any crime” (Brockman, 2010, p. 42). Therefore, although the judge does determine the validity of the plea based on the criteria outlined in Section 606, the inquiry does not ascertain the factual guilt of the