Plea Bargain

Plea Bargain (also called plea agreement, plea deal or copping a plea) is an agreement, in a criminal case, between the prosecutor and the defendant. The defendant is given the opportunity to plead guilty usually for a part of his charges with a recommendation of a lighter sentence. This agreement can be made at almost any point of a criminal case, before the trial. The majority of criminal cases (about 90% of all criminal convictions) are solved through a Plea Bargain. Today when the courts are overloaded and the jails are overcrowded it is a good solution that allows saving time and the resources of the court. Usually this agreement is offered by the court that wants to "process out" the criminals that are not likely to spent much time in jail in case of a guilty verdict. Even the presence of a judge is not required for this agreement. The prosecutors are also interested in a Plea Bargain, because in most cases there is no guarantee that they will win the case in the end. If they persuade the defendant to plea guilty through this agreement, they will definitely have a successful case and guaranteed conviction even without any trial. Also in some cases a Plea Bargain can be used against co-defendants. The defendants are also interested in a possibility to plea guilty for lesser charges, if the case has some serious evidence. And it is also in the interest of an attorney to get the least possible punishment for his or her client if it is nearly impossible to win the case. So if we look at Plea Bargain in general it is a solution that is suitable for almost all the sides in a criminal case.

Plea bargaining usually involves negotiations between the sides in a criminal case in three following areas:

Charge Bargaining

The easiest was to explain is an example. If a person is charged with a first-degree murder a plea bargain will lower these charges to manslaughter. This works for all the types of charges but always heavily depends on the case.

Sentence Bargaining

In this area a lighter sentence is provided for a person that pleads guilty. It helps the court and the prosecutors to avoid trial and the defendant to a smaller sentence.

Fact Bargaining

The third area is facts. It is an admission to certain facts in exchange for an agreement not to introduce certain other facts into evidence.

Plea Bargains are often criticized because it is a way for criminals to avoid the most serious punishment, but in reality in every case this agreement is discussed and there are always a number of factors that influence the possibility of reaching a Plea Bargain. It can be based on the seriousness of the alleged crime, the strength of the evidence in the case, and the prospects of a guilty verdict at trial. So despite all the negative opinions this agreement is still one of the best possible instruments of the law today.