Reference no: EM132601362

Plea agreements are a crucial part of the criminal justice system. There are often many factors taken into consideration before a prosecutor will look at plea agreements, maybe some of the evidence may be suppressed, the case may have some issues he fears the defense attorney will exploit. Another big factor is by having a plea agreement, the prosecutor gets a win, without actually having a sometimes costly, lengthy trial. In almost all cases though the senior prosecutor will review the plea agreement before it can be accepted, and the Judge still has to agree to it as well. Vance, S., Richmond, K., Oleson, J., & Bushway, S. (2019).

Bench and jury trials differ are just as they sound. A bench trial is where the trial is held before the judge. All the evidence and testimony is for the judge. The judge will then review these items and making a ruling. A jury trial is where an empaneled jury is presented the evidence, testimony and they then make the decision of guilt or innocence. Jury trials allow for the defendant's peers to be part of the process, whereas a bench trial the decision is left in the hands of the judge. This does allow for the juror to be given conflicting statements from a defense attorney that can confuse the facts.

Plea bargains often are not as favorably looked upon because it appears to the general public as though the criminal defendant is getting a less severe sentence then originally charged.