plea bargaining ought to be abolished in the United States criminal justice system.

Eleanor Roosevelt once said "Justice cannot be for one side alone, but must be for both." It is because I agree with our former first lady that I affirm the issue, plea bargaining ought to be abolished in the United States criminal justice system. Plea Bargaining is defined by Harvard Law Review as - "an agreement between the prosecution and the defense whereby the defendant pleads guilty in exchange for a more lenient sentence, and a full trial is avoided." I value Justice, defined for 2 key reasons. First, since this discussion is about how the justice system should function we obviously look to their overarching goal of justice. Second, justice is paramount in the individual actions of the justice system because it must dissolve conflict of rights in a way that gives each their due. I offer up the following Observation of innocence. Instead of focusing on the entire aspects of plea bargains, lets us keep this debate about the innocent men and women being affected by plea bargain deals. Because the constitutional rights to fair trial listed in article III, Section 2 of the federal constitution, are meant to protect the innocent and imprison the guilty, affect the innocent and imprison them it is unjust. Therefore in order to win, the Negation must simply prove one point. That innocent men and women are not being incarcerated because of pressure to take plea deals. My first point is that plea bargains are violating laws. [ Garrison Law ; Law Firm; 2015 [Garrison Law Firm, "How a Plea Agreement Can Save Money and Time", September 3, 2015] The right to trial by jury in a criminal case resides in Article III, Section 2 of the federal Constitution ("The Trial of all Crimes shall be by Jury ") "The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Authority" This means that EVERYONE has the right to a full and speedy trial. By allowing plea bargaining the constitutional right to a trial by jury is being taken away. And constitutional rights cannot be taken away. This is unjust. Lynch, Timothy 2008; Cato Institute; "Plea Bargains Jeopardize Justice" "Plea bargaining unquestionably alleviates the workload of judges, prosecutors, and defense lawyers.There is no doubt that government officials deliberately use their power to pressure people who have been accused of crime, and who are presumed innocent, to confess their guilt and waive their right to a formal trial. We know this to be true because prosecutors freely admit that this is what they do.... " The opposition may argue that these people are willingly giving up their right to a fair and speedy trial by accepting plea bargains while knowing what they imply, but as my card proves, there is a dark side. And that is that people not wanting to do their job will pressure plea bargains on people being prosecuted in an attempt to lighten their tasks. Plea bargaining violates the sixth amendment [Dylan Walsh; New York Review of Books; "Why U.S. Criminal Courts Are So Dependent on Plea Bargaining"; May 2, 2017] "Ninety-seven percent of federal cases are settled by plea bargain. State-level data suggest similar numbers nationwide. Though access to a public trial is enshrined in the Sixth Amendment, taking a plea forecloses that possibility. "This constitutional right, for most, is a myth."" Plea bargains are being used unconstitutionally to not allow people to use their right to a fair trial America is founded on the constitution and it is those laws and guidelines that give our government limitation making it so they don"t do whatever they want.Therefore plea bargains are UNJUST because they go against the constitution. My second point is that plea bargains target minorities and the poor. People of color are less likely to receive beneficial plea deals than their white counterparts " this results in higher rates of incarceration because defendants are forced to plead guilty Tucker "17 [J.B.W. Tucker, 7-14-2017, "The Ultimate White Privilege Statistics & Data Post," Race, Racism and the Law, http://racism.org...- statistics-data-post-2?showall=&start=4] Once arrested, blacks are more likely to remain in prison awaiting trial than whites; in some places, they are 33% more likely to be detained while awaiting trial than whites.[9] Then, people of color are routinely arraigned under stiffer, harsher charges than white offenders. While more than 90% of cases end in a plea bargain, blacks and Latinos are less successful at getting their sentences reduced via plea bargain . [33] According to a University of Michigan study: " [B]lack defendants face significantly more severe charges than whites even after controlling for criminal behavior (arrest offense, multiple-defendant case structure, and criminal history), observed defendant characteristics (e.g., age, education), defense counsel type, district, county economic characteristics, and crime rates. Unexplained racial disparities exist across the charge- severity distribution, especially at the high end. The most striking disparities are found in the use of charges that carry non-zero statutory minimum sentences."[34] Black men are nearly twice as likely to be arraigned on charges that carry a mandatory minimum. [34] A study in Georgia in the 1980s found that more than 20% of black defendants convicted of murdering white victims received the death penalty. However, only 8% of whites who killed whites and 1% of blacks who killed other blacks received the death penalty. People of color, or other minorities, once they are forced into the plea bargain they often are worse off then they would be if they had been a majority. This is saying that many innocent people of the minority are getting horrible deals and serving time for crimes they didn"t commit. The Factors of Reduced Sentences RACE Devers; Ph.D., 2011 Lindsey; January 24, 2011; Bureau of Justice Assistance; US Department of Justice The majority of research on race shows that blacks are less likely than their white counterparts to receive reduced pleas This means that even though plea deals are being offered to everyone, the deals are often unsuccessful for african americans and other races to get reduced pleas, making them spend more time in prison for things they did not do. Justice IS NOT being upheld because different races are being treated differently in a court of law. In summary, plea bargains are not only unjust, but unconstitutional and serve only for the personal gain of attorneys and to speed up the process of conviction. And are racially biased which leads minorities to having worse sentences from these pleas. It is because plea bargaining is Unjust and unright that I strongly stand on the affirmative side in this debate.