The Plea Bargaining Blog

In recent days, two notable pieces have appeared in major U.S. newspapers discussing plea bargaining's innocence problem.  The first appeared in  The Washington Post , entitled "How to make an innocent client plead guilty." The piece, written by Jeffrey D. Stein, a public defender in Washington, D.C., discusses the power of plea bargaining, especially when the defendant is subjected to pretrial detention. The conversation almost always begins in jail. Sitting with your client in the visitation room, you start preparing them for the most important decision the person has ever made. Though the case is just a few days old, the prosecution has already extended a plea offer that will expire within the week. And, because local laws might require detention for certain charges at the prosecutor’s request, or because criminal justice systems punish those unable to pay bail, your client will have to make that decision while sitting in a cage. Your clie...

This week's The Economist magazine contains an article entitled " A deal you can't refuse: The troubling spread of plea-bargaining from America to the world ."  The piece, referenced on the magazine's cover as "The perils of plea bargains," details the growth of plea bargaining around the world over the last two decades.  A recent study of the issue by Fair Trials International revealed that in 1990 just 19 countries used some form of plea bargaining.  That number is now 66. In examining the issue of the global spread of plea bargaining, The Economist looked at the history of plea bargaining in the United States and its growth in the shadows of the American criminal justice system in the early twentieth century.  This issue is discussed in detail in my article entitled " Bargained Justice: Plea Bargaining's Innocence Problem and the Brady Safety-Valve ," available here for free download.  The Economist article also discusses m...

The Marshall Project has a new commentary piece online regarding race and plea bargaining.  The piece, entitled " When Race Tips the Scales in Plea Bargaining " begins with this story. TWO OFFICERS ESCORTED a young black man into the courtroom, bringing him in handcuffs from a holding cell in the back called “the pen.” They placed him beside his public defender and stepped away. So far, things were routine.   The prosecutor had offered the man a plea deal of probation and he indicated that he would accept. In a scene that plays out dozens of times a day in the Bronx criminal court, the judge ran through a constitutionally required script.   This article was published in collaboration with Slate. She explained what it means to accept a prosecutor’s plea offer: that he was giving up his right to a trial; he was admitting guilt; he could not change his mind. The judge asked, as she must: “Is anyone forcing you to accept this plea today?” At this point, most people qui...

An interesting opinion piece regarding plea bargaining appeared on NJ.com recently. The article, authored by the Mayor of the City of Bridgeton, NJ, discusses plea bargaining and innocence.  The piece begins: In a previous column, I expressed appreciation for the work done on bail reform in New Jersey. My support for the switch to a largely non-monetary bail system comes from what I have seen of the impact on people's lives. No longer do people have to sit in jail only because they don't have the money for cash bail. Bail reform is a good foundational step, but is reform is needed in other areas. One such area is plea bargains. I honestly never gave plea agreements much thought until an acquaintance shared an article from The Atlantic's September edition, "Innocence is Irrelevant" by Emily Yoffe. You can read the rest of the opinion piece by  Mayor Albert B. Kelly here .  

The Atlantic has published an article regarding plea bargaining and innocence entitled Innocence is Irrelevant .    The piece, which centers on my hometown of Nashville, discusses the case of Shanta Sweatt. In considering how criminal justice operates today, the piece states:  This is the  age  of the plea bargain. Most people adjudicated in the criminal-justice system today waive the right to a trial and the host of protections that go along with one, including the right to appeal. Instead, they plead guilty. The vast majority of felony convictions are now the result of plea bargains—some 94 percent at the state level, and some 97 percent at the federal level. Estimates for misdemeanor convictions run even higher. These are astonishing statistics, and they reveal a stark new truth about the American criminal-justice system: Very few cases go to trial. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy acknowledged this reality in 2012, writing for the majority in  ...

A new report from Fair Trials is a must read for those interested in plea bargaining issues.  Fair Trials is an organization working globally to "improve respect for the fundamental human right to a fair trial." From the description of the report on the Fair Trials website: The trial is the archetype of criminal justice. It has captured the public imagination. Just think of the dominance of court-room drama in film, TV and literature: the intense personal drama of the trial for the defendant, whose life hangs in the balance. The public drama of the trial: after the shadowlands of police custody, the evidence and the actions of police and prosecutors are exposed to the bright light of scrutiny. The public sees the rule of law in action, witnesses real-time, the search for truth and justice. But the trial is starting to disappear. In many parts of the world, trials are being replaced by legal regimes that encourage suspects to admit guilt and waive their right to a full...

In 2015, I launched the Inaugural ABA Criminal Justice Section Global White Collar Crime Institute in Shanghai, China.  It was an incredible success and brought together practitioners, government officials, judges, consultants, and academics to discuss some of the most important issues in the field.  I’m please to announce that the Second Global White Collar Crime Institute will be held in Sao Paulo, Brazil on June 7-8, 2017 at the Law Offices of Trench Rossi Watanabe.   The program is now available online, and it is shaping up to be another spectacular event.   The program includes the following panels: ·       A Prosecutor’s View of Global White Collar Crime from Investigation to Sentencing ·       Navigating Cross Border Government Investigations and Prosecutions ·       Trends Regarding Global Anti-Corruption Enforcement ·       A View of Globa...