Forums → WEPR → Justice System - Plea bargains

Ok, this is something I recently discovered .Probably it is no news to experts on the law but it shocked me. According to this, a staggering amount of 97% of all the inmates in the United States have never received a trial. The primary method of incarceration and punishment consists of plea bargains between the defendant and the prosecutor. According to journalist Chris Hedges, "once you are charged in America, you are almost always found guilty at a trial".

The plea bargains are carried out between prosecutors and defendants and without any Judicial supervision whatsoever. The trials themselves are something to avoid, which is the reason why attorneys often urge their clients to accept a plea arrangement for a reduced sentence. Because, as the source reports, once you are found guilty at a trial, the sentence will be the heaviest posible.

It appears the entire judicial system in the US seems to be built around encouraging this tactic. Again according to the article, would more cases go to a trial, the system would collapse.

What are you thoughts on the matter? Does this constitute a perversion of justice? Are the innocent people in jail far more than any one of us could have anticipated? Does this system of justice makes the Death sentence a dangerous and unethical tool used to instill fear into the defendants? What about innocents affected by this form of terror tactics? Do you think it is not true?