Plea Bargaining

The negotiated guilty plea that resolves most criminal cases

Overview

Over ninety percent of American criminal convictions arrive by negotiated plea rather than trial, a practice that grew quietly in the twentieth century and was blessed by the Supreme Court in 1970. Bargains trade charge or sentence concessions for certainty, sparing both sides trial risk, with prosecutors holding the stronger hand. Critics charge it coerces the innocent and hides evidence testing from view, and some states now ban certain bargains or require judicial scrutiny. No major system has found a way to try every case.