How many plea bargains are there

This means that the defendant pleads guilty in exchange for a stipulation by the prosecution that it will overlook the aggravating factors during the sentencing process.

The type of plea bargain may be important later if the defendant is charged with another offense. Similarly, a defendant could avoid a harsher future sentence by limiting the aggravating factors on their record. Last reviewed October Criminal Law Contents. When to Make a Plea Deal In most states, a defendant can arrange a plea bargain with a prosecutor at any time during the course of a criminal case.

No contest pleas are sometimes called nolo contendere pleas. Criminal Law. Aggravating and Mitigating Factors in Criminal Sentencing. Restitution for Crime Victims. Reasons to Accept a Plea Bargain. Withdrawing a Guilty Plea in a Criminal Case.

Ineffective Assistance of Counsel in Plea Bargaining. How Judges Review Plea Bargains. Finalizing a Plea Bargain. Receiving Immunity for Testimony in a Criminal Case.

Classification of Criminal Offenses. Alcohol Crimes. Parole and Probation. She was dressed for work in a black sweatshirt, sweatpants, and sneakers. A large ring of keys attached to her belt bespoke her responsibilities as a janitorial supervisor at the arts center, just a few blocks away.

I asked how she had come up with such a specific story on the spot. The beaches are pretty. The palm trees. She was born and raised in East Nashville and has spent almost her entire life within the same few square miles. She had no plans to vacation in California, or anywhere else.

The police seemed to believe her story the arrest warrant noted her upcoming trip and drove her downtown, where they put her in a holding room. She contacted a friend, and they each paid half. A court date was set for January. Sweatt was facing serious charges with serious consequences, and she was advised to get an attorney. The fallout began even before the court rendered judgment in her case. Under the rules of the housing agency, her arrest prompted her eviction, which scattered her family.

Sweatt moved into a cheap motel, and her sons moved in with her mother, although she still managed to see them every day. At their first meeting, Sweatt felt reassured.

Eyster planned to use them as evidence that Sweatt was too busy mopping the floors at the arts center day and night to be a drug trafficker. The next time Eyster and Sweatt saw each other was two weeks later, in court.

Sweatt had been charged with a Class D felony, which carried a two-toyear prison sentence, and a misdemeanor related to the paraphernalia. First, there was her confession. Second, there was the police account of the circumstances of the arrest. In years past, she had pleaded guilty to several minor misdemeanors most for driving with a suspended license and one felony.

The felony conviction resulted from her involvement in a robbery at a Jack in the Box. As Sweatt tells it, friends had discussed committing a robbery at the restaurant, where she worked, and then surprised her by actually carrying one out. Eyster believed that Sweatt was innocent of the drug charges against her. The best path forward, Eyster decided, was to humanize Sweatt to the prosecutor—hence those time sheets—and then try to negotiate a plea bargain. In exchange for a guilty plea, the prosecutor might not recommend a prison sentence.

The strategy worked. Upon hearing the news, Sweatt embraced Eyster and wept with joy. Then she stood before the judge and pleaded guilty to a crime she says she did not commit. This is the age of the plea bargain. Most people adjudicated in the criminal-justice system today waive the right to a trial and the host of protections that go along with one, including the right to appeal.

Instead, they plead guilty. The vast majority of felony convictions are now the result of plea bargains—some 94 percent at the state level, and some 97 percent at the federal level. Estimates for misdemeanor convictions run even higher. These are astonishing statistics, and they reveal a stark new truth about the American criminal-justice system: Very few cases go to trial.

Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy acknowledged this reality in , writing for the majority in Missouri v. Frye , a case that helped establish the right to competent counsel for defendants who are offered a plea bargain. That is what plea bargaining is. It is not some adjunct to the criminal justice system; it is the criminal justice system.

Ideally, plea bargains work like this: Defendants for whom there is clear evidence of guilt accept responsibility for their actions; in exchange, they get leniency. A time-consuming and costly trial is avoided, and everybody benefits. But in recent decades, American legislators have criminalized so many behaviors that police are arresting millions of people annually—almost 11 million in , the most recent year for which figures are available.

Taking to trial even a significant proportion of those who are charged would grind proceedings to a halt. Because of plea bargains, the system can quickly handle the criminal cases of millions of Americans each year, involving everything from petty violations to violent crimes. And plea bargains are intrinsically tied up with race, of course, especially in our era of mass incarceration. As prosecutors have accumulated power in recent decades, judges and public defenders have lost it.

According to the Prison Policy Initiative, , people are in jail on any given day, and , of them—70 percent—are in pretrial detention. Many of these defendants are facing minor charges that would not mandate further incarceration, but they lack the resources to make bail and secure their freedom. Some therefore feel compelled to take whatever deal the prosecutor offers, even if they are innocent. Dripps cited the case of Terrance Graham, a black year-old who, in , attempted to rob a restaurant with some friends.

The prosecutor charged Graham as an adult, and he faced a life sentence without the possibility of parole at trial. The prosecutor offered Graham a great deal in exchange for a guilty plea: one year in jail and two more years of probation. Graham took the deal. But he was later accused of participating in another robbery and violated his probation—at which point the judge imposed the life sentence. In , the Supreme Court ruled, in Graham v. Florida , that the punishment Graham faced at trial was so cruel and unusual as to be unconstitutional.

The Court found that a juvenile who did not commit homicide cannot face life without parole. Thanks in part to plea bargains, millions of Americans have a criminal record; in , the National Employment Law Project estimated that figure at 65 million.

It is a mark that can carry lifetime consequences for education, employment, and housing. Having a record, even for a violation that is trivial or specious, means a person can face tougher charges and punishment if he or she again encounters the criminal-justice system.

Plea bargaining has become so coercive that many innocent people feel they have no option but to plead guilty. They often accomplish this by reducing the number of charges of the severity of the charges against defendants. They might also agree to recommend that defendants receive reduced sentences. Some plea bargains require defendants to do more than simply plead guilty. For example, prosecutors often offer favorable plea bargains to defendants who agree to testify for the state in cases against other defendants.

According to the Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Assistance, " The overwhelming majority 90 to 95 percent of cases result in plea bargaining. In some jurisdictions , prosecutors and defendants can work with judges to predetermine what sentence the defendants will get if the defendants accept plea bargains. Similarly, federal judges may not be directly involved in plea bargain negotiations. Although plea bargaining allows the criminal justice system to conserve resources, the plea bargains are controversial.

Some commentators oppose plea bargains, as they feel that plea bargains allow defendants to shirk responsibility for the crimes they have committed.