The Plea Bargaining Blog

The  New York Times  published an article earlier this year entitled Trial by Jury, a Hallowed American Right, Is Vanishing . It is well worth a read. The piece examines the rarity of trials at the federal level and includes observations from some of the country's most prominent judges. From the opening of the article: The criminal trial ended more than two and a half years ago, but Judge Jesse M. Furman can still vividly recall the case. It stands out, not because of the defendant or the subject matter, but because of its rarity: In his four-plus years on the bench in Federal District Court in Manhattan, it was his only criminal jury trial. He is far from alone. Click here for the entire article.

NPR has an interesting story about juvenile defendants lacking legal advice and often being urged to plead guilty.   From the beginning of the piece: Everybody knows when you are accused of a crime, you get a lawyer. But in practice, that is not the case for thousands of kids. The Justice Department says about half the young people locked up in detention facilities never had an attorney. And now, a new report finds that even when juveniles do get legal advice, it often comes from lawyers who urge them to plead guilty. Click here to listen to the entire NPR story.