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To: kabar
I think you're missing the broader context.

Nationally north of 80% of defendants end up guilty if a case goes to trial. Less than 10% of Americans have a felony. Amongst certain genders and ethnic groups there's a skew obviously.

Depending on your perspective, you could say the fix is in, there's no justice, the Man/DS controls all the courts, etc. Or you could read into it that you generally end up in a trial situation when you're guilty of something.
76 posted on 10/20/2023 5:43:32 PM PDT by Observator
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To: Observator; kabar
Or you could read into it that you generally end up in a trial situation when you're guilty of something.

Trump is guilty of beating Hillary and of not folding for dems and RINOs.

77 posted on 10/20/2023 8:01:57 PM PDT by ding_dong_daddy_from_dumas (Re-imagine the media!)
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To: Observator

You are innocent until proven guilty. From the linked article:

Aside from the paltry number of trials in the federal system, states including Pennsylvania, Texas and New York have trial rates of less than 3%. In Santa Cruz County, Ariz., there were no trials from 2010 to 2012, the report said.

The prevalence of plea bargaining exploded in the last several decades as a way to save money and time and to promote more certainty in outcomes. But the practice comes with “a very high cost,” said Lucian Dervan, a professor at Belmont University College of Law in Nashville.

Pleas can allow police and government misconduct to go unchecked, because mistakes and misbehavior often only emerge after defense attorneys gain access to witness interviews and other materials, with which they can test the strength of a government case before trial.

The deals also exacerbate racial inequality, with Black defendants more often subject to prosecutors’ stacking of multiple charges in drug and gun cases. Altogether, defendants face stiffer punishments for going to trial — known as a trial penalty — that can add seven to nine years or more to their sentence.

But most stark in the report is research that cites innocent defendants who agree to falsely plead guilty, sometimes on the advice of their own lawyers. An Innocence Project database of exonerations includes dozens of people who falsely pleaded guilty.

“This isn’t just having an effect on those individuals,” said Dervan, who co-chaired the task force. “It’s having an effect on the entire community and the safety of the entire community.”

Overhauling the justice system will be no easy task — since it could require changes to laws and ethics rules in many U.S. states. “It’s past time to start that work,” said Dervan, who recently created the Plea Bargaining Institute to generate and share research.

ABA task force makes 14 recommendations, including the need to collect and analyze data on plea bargains; the need to give defendants access to discovery materials before they enter a plea; and the need to eliminate bail requirements or pretrial detention when they’re used to coerce someone into pleading guilty.

The report also presses prosecutors and judges not to demand or accept plea deals where defendants waive essential legal rights, such as the right to appeal and receive exculpatory information; and the right to make future claims for release for reasons of terminal illness.


81 posted on 10/20/2023 8:50:49 PM PDT by kabar
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