Southern New Hampshire University
CJ-207: The United States Judicial System
Week Four Discussion Post: Make Your Case
Instructions: Take a position. Is plea bargaining an effective or ineffective alternative process?
(For this post, I have taken the position that plea bargaining is NOT an effective alternative
process).
Use the information gained in this module and the resources noted above to make your case.
Based upon the volume of court cases, the societal implications, and the impact that plea
bargaining has on the defendant, do you believe that plea bargaining represents justice? Why or
why not? Be sure to build your case with factual resources.
Based on the resources provided, I concluded that plea bargaining is not an effective alternative
process. I believe our textbook said it best when it stated that plea bargaining "Undermines the
integrity of the criminal justice system. It circumvents the rigorous standards of due process and
proof imposed during trials."2 (Hemmens et al., 2020, p. 252)
While plea bargaining has its benefits such as allowing courts to regulate a large number of cases
quickly, and that plea bargaining is economical because, "If every criminal charge were subject
to a full-scale trial, the states and the Federal Government would need to multiply by many times
