Plea bargaining is all too common a process in the criminal justice system. Often, the defense negotiates with the prosecution to have a defendant plead guilty to a criminal charge with the expectation of receiving a lighter sentence. The problem with this quick-fix tactic is that serious felons are pleading guilty to misdemeanors and keeping a cleaner record and getting reduced punishment. Plea bargaining is necessary; however, defendants tried on felony charges should not be able to plead down to misdemeanor charges.
Plea bargaining "provides criminals with excessive leniency" (Nasheri 25). According to The Concise Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia online, plea bargaining means that the defendant waives the right to trial, losing any chance for acquittal, but avoids conviction of a more serious charge. A 1992 survey of the seventy-five most populous counties found that "guilty pleas as a result of plea bargaining accounted for ninety-two percent of all convictions in state courts" (Guidorizzi). In situations like this, the guilty defendants were either given less serious charges or shortened jail sentences. Men and women who are committing felonies have the opportunity to plead guilty to less serious charges. A criminal can be punished to some degree for a violation of the law, but still have a fairly clean record that sugar coats his or her shady past.
One excellent example of this occurs when a rapist in the movie, The Accused, plea bargains to lesser charges to safe guard his future. Jodie Foster portrays a victim of a gang rape in which three perpetrators plea bargain to a charge of "reckless endangerment" instead of a justified charge of "rape one." Foster becomes enraged because she feels that there is no justice being served through the light sentences. The lawyer of the youngest assailant claimed that his client had a bright future ahead and could not afford a serious criminal record with a sexual assault element.
