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A Critical Appraisal of Plea Bargaining in the Criminal Justice System
When a crime has been committed and the offender arrested and charged with the particular offence or offences, the British public expect justice to be dispensed. ... Bearing this in mind, this essay will critically appraise the merits and demerits of the practice of plea- bargaining.
Ever since the Court of Appeal set the parameters to this plea-bargaining procedure in the leading case of Turner (1970) it has developed to be an integral part of the criminal justice process in the United Kingdom. ... McConville and Baldwin suggest that the rise of plea-bargaining has more to do with the case load pressures in the criminal courts and compromises having to be made to reduce the burden. ... If more of the population were conversant with the informal procedures of plea-bargaining, as it currently stands, there would possibly be a public outcry. ... They say in areas like drugs, deals are frequently made and a lot of plea-bargaining is done by the police and presented to the Crown Prosecution Service as a fait a compli. ...
It is generally accepted in the courts that an accused who changes his plea to guilty to a lesser charge will receive a lower sentence than if he maintains a not guilty plea to the end of his trial and is convicted. ...
Plea-bargaining on the face of it, appears to be an advantage mainly to the offender because it minimises his sentence from a custodial one to non-custodial. ...
Academics have conducted much research into the benefits of plea-bargaining to the criminal justice system and to the perpetrators of crime.
Approximate Word count = 1353
Approximate Pages = 5.4
(250 words per page double spaced)
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