Important To The Criminal Justice System example essay topic

Plea Bargaining Process The plea bargaining process is very important to the criminal justice system because without it the criminal justice system would grind to a halt. Plea-bargaining is important because if every case went to a trial it would take years for criminals to get from the time of arrest till the time of trial. The video we saw showed an example of how the process works to get criminals who plea guilty to committing minor crimes through the system faster so that the courts can concentrate on those criminals who commit major crimes. In this video you can see some of the variables that enter into the plea-bargaining system and how they can be fair and unfair to the parties involved.

You can see the quality of legal representation provided by the public defenders office and how they have the discretion to what happens to these criminals. And we can explore options to improve the system to operate more smoothly and provide better justice to the criminals for the community. In this video we saw a few cases in which people committed crimes including public drunkenness, prostitution, and even a guy who was doing push-ups in the train tracks which caused a train to stop. In all cases the criminals were career criminals who have been in and out of trouble for years and in all cases they plead guilty and received little or no jail time. While you might think this is good for the criminals and they should be happy about their sentences it is not good. These criminals suffer from many problems, are in some cases homeless, and they are in need of desperate help.

They last place they want to be or should be is back on the streets. There are few variables that cause public defenders and prosecutors to come to the bargains that they do and a very big reason is that jails are overcrowded and can't handle the volume of people that commit crimes. So in that case if someone doesn't commit a very serious crime most often they will return to the streets within a couple of days. This is very unfair to the criminal, victim, and society. These people need help and by them going back onto the streets they are a liability to them selves and society. While the over crowding of jails and prisons is a reason why some of these criminals get off easy the quality of the public defenders office can have a lot to do with it.

The public defender has the discretion to bargain how ever he or she wants with the prosecutor and this is an action that is carried out not in front of the judge but in private. So they can bargain in whatever ways they want and there is plenty of room for ulterior motives to cloud the issue. While the public defenders in the video were of excellent quality really working hard at their jobs and really trying to help people I am sure it is not like that everywhere. The public defenders in the video were very aware that their clients had real problems and needed help but their job is to help the criminals and try to get them the best deal available and that they did. They served the people they were helping the best they could.

The public defender has a lot of freedom and discretion in the future of what happens to the criminals. With that comes a lot of room for corruption to occur. Also with pressure being put on the public defender and prosecutors because of limited jail space it is hard for justice to be served. I believe that some stronger controls should be entered into the plea bargaining system. The plea bargaining system should be monitored more closely to watch for corruption in the system. Also to help the prosecutor and public defender to serve justice a little better there would need to be more holding facilities so that more criminals that deserved it would end up in jail.

While there are some problems in the plea bargaining system I believe it is very effective in keeping the criminal justice system moving efficiently and moving criminals in and out of the system quickly. You can see some of the things that the public defender has to deal with and how his bargaining affects the lives of the criminals, victims, and the community everyday. And I hope that in the future there can be a system were justice is served in every case everyday.