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Comment by Georgelemental | Hacker News Reader

> according to a new report from the American Bar Association

Not attacking or defending plea bargains, but it is only natural than an association of lawyers would prefer the lengthiest procedures that give the most billable work to lawyers.

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I would be surprised if 1% of these cases involved defense attorneys billing by the hour.

To be more specific I'd bet the majority of these are public defenders. I'd bet people who can afford their own attorneys are far more likely to have charges dropped or go to court than the average case.

In some states the average public defender can be taking on case loads of 400 cases in a year. Without the resources to hire expert witnesses, or the time to do a deep dive into a case, the most logical thing you can do as a public defender is take the plea bargain and minimize how much time your client will spend incarcerated. It’s a system of coercion. The DA throws spaghetti at the wall, we overwork public defenders almost forcing them to recommend the defendants plea out, and as a result, incarcerate more people than any other nation. It’s sick

I wish I could remember which book I read it in, but in one counties lawyers joined together and refused all plea bargains. It almost instantly collapsed the legal system in their county and caused a multi year backlog. Our legal system is no longer setup to provide all people the right to a fair trial, we simply don’t provide the resources for it anymore.

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