Well the theory behind plea bargaining is that it's really only for guilty people; which is a tricky concept in itself pre-trial. The idea is that with open-an

Well the theory behind plea bargaining is that it's really only for guilty people; which is a tricky concept in itself pre-trial. The idea is that with open-and-shut cases where the prosecution has so much evidence it's pretty clear the guy is guilty, they can plea bargain the sentence down to avoid wasting the courts time and prevent overburdening the system. However, it is commonly abused by prosecutors pressuring less obvious cases into pleading guilty. People who may well be innocent but can't afford decent representation, are so afraid of the potential 20yr sentence that they plead out for 6 months in minimum security. So yes, every guilty person should plea bargain (unless they have great lawyers), but unfortunately the plea bargaining system means a significant number of potentially innocent people are pressured into pleading out. Not a particularly just system. That's why I was saying that it's not a good sign for a justice system if plea bargains are better for innocent people. They're only meant to be better for guilty people, in order to speed up processing in overburdened courts.