I really wanna make this good, Im tired of writing tonight and I will resume in the morning but can someone please edit what I have so far and give me any suggestions. It will be greatly appreciated.





Plea Bargaining: Good or Bad?
In 1980 an Irish born the ex-Mafia associate was facing a serious charge of 25 years to life for drug offenses. Fearing the maximum sentence, Henry Hill, offered a testimony to help police convict many mobsters including Jimmy Burke and Paul Vario who were involved in a nearly flawless airport heist. Because Hill feared being killed, he became an Federal Bureau of Investigations(F.B.I) informant and gave testimonies that aided in the conviction of 50 criminals.
According to Black’s Law Dictionary (1999), a plea bargain is a “negotiated agreement between a prosecutor and a criminal defendant whereby the defendant pleads guilty to a lesser offense … in exchange for some concession by the prosecutor … a more lenient sentence or a dismissal of other charges” (p. 1173).
This process has become more common and is now widely used in courtrooms throughout America. The number of cases in courtrooms have been rising at a dramatic rate, causing the criminal justice system to overload. To help relieve the congestion of the many cases, prosecutors and the defense use plea bargaining. Plea bargaining not only frees up time for the courts, it enables the defendant a quick disposition which allows them to serve their sentence or probation immediately.
There are two types of plea bargaining in the judicial system. The first type is called a charge bargain. In a charge bargain the prosecutor and defense make an agreement to reduce the charges of a crime if the defendant agrees to plead guilty to at least one charge. For example, a person is charged with reckless driving and driving under the influence, but the reckless driving charge could dropped if the individual agrees to plead guilty to the DUI charge. The other type of plea bargaining, called a sentence bargain, is essentially the same as charge bargain but instead, the sentence can be reduced if the defendant pleads guilty. For example, an individual facing serious charges and fears getting the maximum sentence, should accept the plea bargain to reduce their sentence to lesser one.
Plea bargaining may seem beneficial to the overloaded criminal justice system, but it does not come without controversy. Some people view plea bargaining as ensuring the rights of the defendant and clearing up high caseloads for the courts while others see it as benefiting the guilty.
According to some people, plea bargaining is a beneficial tool used in courts. The reasons they believe this is because plea bargaining saves money, saves time, defendants get out of jail, and they reduce the amount of serious offenses on one’s record.
For defendants that choose to be represented by their own attorney, plea bargaining is a much easier and convenient option. They save on fees and take less time. Defendants that are in custody of the police and cannot make bail might choose a plea bargain to get out of jail as soon as they can and possibly avoid probation and community service as much as possible. A plea bargain usually takes stress off of the defendants as well as the courts because unlike a trial it ends almost immediately once an acceptance to a plea bargain is made. A defendant that pleads guilty is ultimately in a better position because the seriousness of the crime and length of the sentence is reduced.

Plea bargaining is not only beneficial to the defendant and courts, it is also beneficial to society. When a low profile criminal, for example a drug dealer, is taken into custody and accepts a plea bargain the community often becomes somewhat safer because the low profile drug dealer helps police convict other, more high profile drug traffickers. Because a plea bargains are made, the police have more informants to help catch and take dangerous criminals off the streets.
In the opinion of others, plea bargaining should be abolished because of their views of rights, punishment, and justice. Some may say plea bargaining is unfair because the defendants give up their rights such as the right to a trial by jury and because it might increase the amount of innocent people pleading guilty for crimes they did not commit. On the other hand, others view plea bargaining negatively because they think that it does not respect our country’s justice system by giving criminals unjust and lenient sentences that don’t compare to the severity of the crime they committed.

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I plan on continuing this essay by finshing with the negative things of plea bargaining and then adding my own opinion...