Plea Bargaining

1
Plea Bargaining

• An agreement between the defendant and the state
  where each gives up something to gain something
• It is a process involving a number of decisions
  that can take place over hours or weeks

2
What a Defendant Pleas for

• Charge Reduction
• Sentence Recommendation
• Agreement of Terms (Will not reject request for
  probation)
• Specific Considerations (Local Time)
• Implicit Bargaining (If the Defendant goes to
  trial, the punishment would be harsher)

3
Negotiated Justice

• PRO
• Does not re traumatize a victim
• Good to use when witnesses are truthful but not
  credible
• No one wants to go through the ordeal of a trial

• CON
• Prosecutors routinely overcharge
• Punishment is now completely in the hands of the
  state
• Prosecutor is not directly accountable to the
  public

4
Courtroom players and plea bargaining

• Judges
• Normally do not actively participate
• Acceptance of plea bargaining reduces the
  courtroom bottleneck
• Sometimes the defendant should have plea
  bargained rather than use the resources

• Public Defenders
• Assess cases For example, some cases are pled
  immediately
• Often are accused of not working in the clients
  interest by bargaining

5
Sentencing
6
What Can a Convicted Person Get?

• Death
• Prison
• Shock Probation
• Residential Community Center
• Electronic Monitoring
• House Arrest
• Intensive Probation Supervision (IPS)
• Forfeiture
• Fines
• Pretrial Release

7
Probation

• Conditional Release of an Offender with
  supervision of the court
• Sometimes a suspended prison sentence if the
  offender agrees to rules of probation
• Probation is in lieu of a sentence, a parolee is
  in custody
• Probation requires eligibility and conditions of
  probation

8
Probation Officers

• Perform Pre sentence investigation
• Intake Settle before trial
• Diagnosis Evaluate Probationer
• Treatment Supervision
• Risk Classification
• Intensive Supervision (in Ca, Formal Probation)
• Low or No Supervision (Informal)

9
Case Law

• Minnesota v Murphy Probationer was ordered to
  seek counseling. He admitted a rape he committed
  during counseling Miranda warning not required
  for non custody
• Griffin v Wilson A probationers home may be
  searched without warrant

10
Probation

• Survey of 160,000 probationers sent to jail
• 74 committed a new crime
• 24 violated
• Avertable recidivist A crime could had been
  prevented if the probationer went to prison in
  the first place

11
Forfeiture, Fines and Restitution

• Forfeiture Seizure of goods
• Restitution
• Monetary
• Community Service
• Fines often used in conjunction with prison or
  jail