Opinion: the process of plea bargaining should be reformed in the American Justice System

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[...] Conclusion While plea bargaining brings many benefits to the American Criminal Justice System, it is a flawed process. The issues born of it and causing controversies in society must be addressed. The policy I have developed and explained here has three components: restricting the offenses and offenders eligible for plea bargaining, including the other actors of a trial (defense attorney, judge, victims) in the negotiation, and creating guidelines for the prosecutor to follow when negotiating plea deals. Thanks to this policy, offenders who are dangerous to the community will not be able to have lesser sentences. [...]

[...] It's time to suck the venom out, American Civil Liberties Union, URL: https://www.aclu.o [HYPERLINK: https://www.aclu.org/news/criminal-law-reform/coercive-plea-bargaining-has-poisoned-the-criminal-justice-system-its-time-to-suck-the-venom-out/]rg/news/criminal-law-reform/coercive-plea-bargaining-has-poisoned-the-criminal-justice-system-its-time-to-suck-the-venom-out/ [HYPERLINK: https://www.aclu.org/news/criminal-law-reform/coercive-plea-bargaining-has-poisoned-the-criminal-justice-system-its-time-to-suck-the-venom-out/] Meyer, Jon'a F. "plea bargaining". Encyclopedia Britannica Feb. 2020: https://www.britannica.com/topic/plea-bargaining L. Devers, Plea and charge bargaining, Bureau of Justice Assistance, US Department of Justice January 24th 2011, URL: https://bja.ojp.gov/sites/g/files/xyckuh186/files/media/d [HYPERLINK: https://bja.ojp.gov/sites/g/files/xyckuh186/files/media/document/PleaBargainingResearchSummary.pdf]ocument/PleaBargainingResearchSummary.pdf [HYPERLINK: https://bja.ojp.gov/sites/g/files/xyckuh186/files/media/document/PleaBargainingResearchSummary.pdf] Viano Emilio "Plea Bargaining in the United States: a Perversion Of Justice", Revue internationale de droit pénal, 2012/1-2 (Vol. p. 109-145. [...]

[...] A policy looking to solve the issue of plea bargaining should also ensure that when prosecutors do make plea deals, they are not coercive. To achieve this goal and stop coercive plea bargaining, judges and the defense attorney can be given a bigger role in the negotiations. This way it would become more of a conversation between the actors of a possible trial, minus the jury, leading to a more just deal. The victims should also be included in the discussion to express their needs for a successful recovery from the harm they were caused. [...]

[...] So a policy addressing the issue of plea bargaining should restrict the practice of plea bargaining to crimes of moderate gravity, as it is done in the French Criminal Justice System; make the plea deal negotiations a conversation involving the prosecutor, the defendant, his attorney, the judge, and the victim to reach a more just deal; create guidelines for the prosecutor to follow when negotiating plea deals. Policy The policy defined above targets the three issues of plea bargaining explained earlier. [...]

[...] So the fact that they face trial and will be more likely to be deprived of liberty awaiting said trial, and after, can deter them from committing a crime. This deterrence effect already exists today but reducing the possibility of plea bargaining will reinforce it. The increase of trust in the Criminal Justice System is the consequence that giving appropriate punishment to offenders will have on victims and communities. Indeed, they will know that the offender did not get a lighter punishment. [...]