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Comment by rprasad | Hacker News Reader

Getting rid of plea bargaining doesn't make the problem better; it makes it worse by removing any compromise between walking away and the maximum sentence.

From my own experience: in mental committment proceedings, there is no halfway point between letting the defendant stay free and committing them to a mental hospital. Consequently, the prosecutor's office simply never negotiates; they take every case to trial.

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> Getting rid of plea bargaining doesn't make the problem better

He didn't say that and I hope you know the difference. Reform is desperately needed.

Here's the thing: Getting rid of pea bargaining will mean every case must go to court. Since the courts are unable to deal with that many cases the prosecutors will be MUCH more selective when deciding which cases to take on. Fewer people will get charged and fewer people will go to jail.

You go to jail once you're charged, not when you are convicted. My hometown is currently running into budgetary problems and has scaled back the court system to funnel more funds to the jail housing everyone awaiting trial.

That's not necessarily better. The purpose of plea bargaining is to work the huge mass of petty criminals through the system. The legal presumption of innocence notwithstanding, these people all did the crime, and it's generally a legit crime. Getting rid of plea bargaining means that prosecutors will focus on the big fish, but also means that lower level crimes (shoplifting, pick pocketing, etc) essentially become unenforceable.

Yes, that's an issue, but allowing prosecutors to force any conviction that they want to by escalating charges is too far from just by any standard. It completely sidesteps fairness.

Beyond that, one could argue that the federal government should not be addressing petty crime at all.

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