In the United States, plea bargaining undermines the criminal justice system.

I am in agreement with the statement, "In the United States, plea bargaining undermines the criminal justice system." A plea bargain is a negotiated agreement between a criminal defendant and a prosecutor in which the defendant agrees to plead "guilty" to some crimes in return for reduction of the severity of the charges(source 1). Bribery, by definition, is the helping of someone to benefit themselves. Plea bargaining, similarly, is the government giving criminals a lesser charge to not waste their resources. My first contention is that plea bargaining takes away the citizen's 6th amendment right to speedy and public trial. When plea bargaining, the defendant simply admits to some crimes, makes an agreement with the judge, and the case usually ends with a lesser sentence or charge. With this, we are taking away all of the usual parts of a trial such as police investigations, evidence, and other ways to find someone guilty. This defeats the purpose of putting someone on trial and does not follow our Constitution. My second contention is that the punishment that the criminals will be released earlier, not only encouraging them to commit the crime again but also endangers our innocent citizens. By saying that they are guilty and admitting to some things, they have a chance of getting a lesser charge and can be sentenced to less time in jail. This not only disciplines the criminal wrong, it encourages him to do it again because he knows that he will not be charged with the proper amount of time in jail. If criminals were to know that they could get a lesser sentence or even in some cases a lesser charge, they would think that they could do it again. Also, criminals who plead guilty are potentially dangerous to the innocent citizens of our society. These criminals who plead guilty are being put back into our society earlier than they should. This means that they have more time to commit crimes, endangering the lives of our citizens. My third contention is that innocent people are being forced to plea guilty and are being put in jail for a crime they did not commit. Erma Faye Stewart, for example, says her defense attorney encouraged her to accept a plea bargain when she was arrested in a major drug sweep by a police informant who was later deemed not credible. The thirty-year-old mother of two maintained her innocence, but says her court-appointed defense attorney didn't want to hear it. Even though she wasn't guilty, she was willing to plead guilty because she had to go home to her kids. After accepting the plea bargain and ten years' probation, Stewart was freed. What she didn't know was that under the terms of her probation, she would be required to pay a monthly fee to her probation officer. Within three years of pleading guilty to a crime she says she didn't commit, Erma Faye Stewart had fallen behind in her probation payments and been evicted from her home (Source 3). This shows how many innocent people's lives are ruined because they are forced to make a hasty decision and end up not being able to handle the consequences. Overall, I believe that in the U.S., plea bargaining does undermine the criminal justice system. It is similar to bribery, can endanger the lives of innocent people, and even put some innocent people in jail.