Trial or Plea?
Reasons for Waiving Jury Trials
Many suspects who choose to make plea deals act so at the behest of their lawyers who push them to take the plea deals as guarantees of a jail-free card. Apart from lawyers, external pressure from the prosecution and blackmail and borderline torture account for some of the reasons people succumb to plea deals. Prosecutors vow to incarcerate a family member, interfere with ongoing child custody (in instances where a suspect faces such), and inform employers and offers to seal files. Some suspects have the odds stacked so much against them, regardless of their innocence, so they choose to give in and get a better deal. Finally, desperate situations motivate suspects to accept a plea deal and find a way out of jail. Single parents with nobody else to take care of their children or siblings upon whom others depend always try hard to get back home.
Constitutionality of Plea Deals
The majority of defendants who seek plea deals are poor, black suspects with little or no access to private legal representation and, as such, resort to public defenders and, as such, lack competent and committed defence as stipulated by law. These defenders are overworked and underpaid, compromising their ability to represent their clients effectively. While weighing in on the importance of plea bargains, Justice Michael McSpadden opines that “a plea deal requires a skilled and competent lawyer and a skilled and experience prosecutor, both of whom are experienced” (“FRONTLINE | The Plea | Season 2004 | Episode 11”, 2020). Unfortunately, most suspects involved in plea bargains lack the services of experienced and qualified lawyers as they use the aforementioned public defenders. Though the letter of the law may allow for plea bargains, it is unconstitutional in the law’s spirit.
Case Example
Regarding the video, one particular case sticks out like a sore thumb, the Hearne drug bust. In this case, twenty-seven people were falsely accused by a criminal informant working for the police to be part of a drug ring. Despite apparent unreliability issues, the District Attorney says, “when the case came to the District Attorney’s office, it was sent to the Grand Jury which brought back indictments that set in motion the trial. ” (“FRONTLINE | The Plea | Season 2004 | Episode 11”, 2020). The trial quickly proved that the whole case rested on an unreliable informant with weak evidence. Despite the acquittals, some of the suspects had spent five months in custody awaiting trials while others had pled guilty through plea bargains despite their innocence. In a matter of saying, justice was eerily misplaced in the case.
Opinion on Plea Deals
I think that plea deals are parallel justice systems whose main goal as driven by prosecutors lie in shoring up conviction numbers and has very little to do with justice administration. Therefore, in all good conscience, I cannot positively support an institution whose manifestation of efficiency lies in intimidating, cheating and preying on society’s vulnerable members.
References
Cicchini, M. D. (2020). Under the Gun: Plea Bargains and the Arbitrary Deadline.
Finkelstein, M. O., & Levin, B. (2020). Why plea bargains are a bad deal for some. Significance, 17(1), 20-25.
FRONTLINE | The Plea | Season 2004 | Episode 11. NHPBS Video. (, 2020). Retrieved 14 October 2020, from https://video.nhpbs.org/video/frontline-the-plea/.