From Trials to Plea Bargains
According to Samuel Wiseman, a law professor at Florida State University, prosecutions have generally shifted from criminal trials to plea bargains partly because of Gideon. It's quicker and cheaper for governments to simply negotiate pleas now that many trials require taxpayer funds for both prosecution and defense. [1] The ability of the lawyers . . . to spin out the case forever and ever, their ability to dominate the jury selection in ways that was unheard of two centuries ago, all of that is the background to plea bargaining. As the jury trial becomes more and more time consuming, more and more complex under the weight of the lawyers' capture of the trial, we find that it becomes ever more costly to give people that which the constitution says they must have. |
"Since 1977 the ratio of federal criminal defendants who opt for a jury trial has decreased from one in four cases (25%) to one in thirty-two (about 3%)." -Matthew Clarke [3] "a defendant agrees to plead guilty in exchange for a reduced sentence" -PBS Frontline [4] |
- 1. Samuel Wiseman, telephone interview by the author, Tallahassee, FL, May 16, 2014.
- 2. John Langbein, interview by Ofra Bikel, in PBS Frontline, "The Plea," WGBH Boston, June 17, 2004, produced by Ofra Bikel.
- 3. Matthew Clarke, "Dramatic Increase in Percentage of Criminal Cases Being Plea Bargained," Prison Legal News (Lake Worth, FL), January 2013.
- 4. Ofra Bikel, "The Plea: Introduction," Frontline, last modified June 17, 2004.
- 5. Due Process, "Let's Make a Deal: The Plea Bargain," Rutgers, December 9, 2012, produced by Sandra King.
- 6. Bikel, "The Plea: Introduction," Frontline.
- 7. Due Process, "Let's Make a Deal."