Week 2 - Discussion

As you learned in your readings this week, a vast majority of criminal cases are resolved through plea bargaining. Evaluate when plea bargaining can occur, the ethics of plea bargaining, and how plea bargaining affects the criminal justice process. Speculate on what would happen to the criminal justice system without plea bargaining, and propose alternatives to the plea bargaining process to enhance justice and efficiency to the criminal justice process. It is recommended that your post contain approximately 400 words.

Guided Response:
Many students lament the fact that well over 90% of criminal cases in the United States are resolved through plea agreement. Somehow, there is a notion of “unfairness” for a case to not go to trial. Pragmatically, would it be possible to try every criminal case charged? Why or why not? If court systems are backed logged currently, would increasing the number of cases which go to trials more than nine times allow for a “speedy trial” guaranteed in the Sixth Amendment to the constitution? Why or why not? Review your colleagues’ posts, and substantively respond to at least two of your peers. Continue to monitor the discussion forum until 5:00 p.m. (Mountain Time) on Day 7 of the week, and respond with robust dialogue to anyone who replies to your initial post.