Legal Question in Constitutional Law in Colorado

Re: plea bargain

It depends upon what you mean by justice. Were it not for plea bargains, the great majority of crimes would never be charged at all. Without them, courts would be overloaded, and most crimes would go totally unpunished.

Although a plea bargain means that a defendant is punished not for the actual crime committed, but for the crime the defendant will admit to having committed, at least there is a consequence. This probably brings small comfort to the victims of crime.

On the other hand, many poor, or disadvantaged, or ignorant defendants plead guilty to crimes they didn't do, to avoid the near certainty that they will be convicted of a more serious crime, that they also didn't do.

It is difficult, if not impossible -- even for a lawyer -- to see the justice in this latter situation.