Plea Deal: What you Need to Know

As criminal courts become increasingly crowded, judges and prosecutors feel intense pressure to quickly move cases through the system. Criminal trials can last months, days, or even weeks, whereas guilty pleas are frequently arranged in minutes. Furthermore, the result of any given trial is highly unpredictable. In contrast, a plea deal gives both the defense and prosecution some control over the outcome—hopefully, both parties can live with it. For these and other reasons, and notwithstanding the many detractors, a plea deal is frequent.

What is a Plea deal?

A plea deal is an agreement between a defendant and a prosecutor in which the defendant agrees to enter a guilty or “no contest” (nolo contendere) plea in exchange for the prosecutor agreeing to suggest to the court a specified sentence acceptable to the defense, dismiss one or more charges, or lessen a charge to a non-serious offense.

Advantages

A plea deal has been defended as a voluntary exchange that benefits both parties because defendants have numerous procedural and substantive rights, including the right to trial and the right to appeal a guilty verdict. Defendants waive these rights when they plead guilty in return for a commitment from the prosecutor, for example, a lesser charge or a more favorable sentence.

A sentence reduction is more useful to the accused who believe conviction is definite than a remote chance of acquittal. The prosecutor obtains a conviction while avoiding the need to devote resources and time to trial preparation and, if necessary, a trial.

A plea deal also helps save resources and money for the court where the prosecution takes place. It also implies that witnesses and victims are not required to give testimony at the trial, which in some cases can be traumatic.

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