the defendant. This information could be useful in convicting other individuals that may .
be involved with the same case, or other cases that may be under investigation, (Sergio .
Herzog. Journey of criminal law & criminology, 2003. Vol 94, Iss. 1; pg 103, 29 pgs).
When a person accepts a plea bargain, that person is not denying that he/she committed that .
crime, but this person is willing to accept a lesser charge or lesser time to serve. Also the courts can .
drop other charges as a part of this process. There are over 90% of convictions that come from plea .
bargaining. That leaves 10% of criminal cases that end up in a trial. (Plea Bargains: How Most .
criminal Cases End 20/3).
Plea bargaining is prevalent for practical reasons. For the defendant and the tax payers it .
can save a lot of time and money. In some cases, the defendant will start out paying a .
retainer fee of just $10,000.00 dollars. That amount can even go up to $100,000.00 .
dollars or more, if the case goes to trial. If the defendant cannot afford an attorney, then a .
public defenders is appointed to him. And yes the tax payers will be paying for his .
lawyer. In many cases there is the possibility of the defendant being found not guilty. When this .
happens, then there is a lot of time and money wasted on the whole process of trying to convict a .
person. With the plea bargaining process, the prosecutor and defense can avoid time and spending .
tax payer's money on a trial.
.
Another factor in using plea bargaining for many cases, may be that the courts do not have .
enough evidence, or have the opinion that the defendant could be found not guilty if .
proceeding to trial. In some cases, it could take months to over a year to complete a trial .
in court. When ever you have to wait on a trial, you will find that they have to hold the .
defendant in the jail while awaiting the completion of the trial process. This is more of .
the tax payer's money being spent.
