4 ms·

98% accused of the crime in US plead guilty.

alistairSH 10y ago
That's not a good thing. It frequently comes down to... Plead guilty to a misdemeanor and a few months behind bars. Or, go to trial, face a felony charge, with increased risks to later life (felony = more jail-time, harder to find a job, etc).
- sixothree 10y ago
  I feel like the only way to solve this is to ensure the plea is within some margin of the actual charges.
  - thfuran 10y ago
    We need many times more public defenders so people have representation actually able to spend time on the case.
    - alistairSH 10y ago
      Even with a competent lawyer, how many will be willing to roll the dice on a trial? Take a fairly "common" drunk in public... should be a night in jail and fine, or similar. But, a poorly trained cop was involved, so they're now adding resisting arrest (another misdemeanor) AND assaulting a police officer (felony with mandatory minimum sentencing). Now, instead of fighting the original misdemeanor on it's merits, you're pleading guilty to it to avoid a potentially life-ruining felony.
cwingrav 10y ago
Because: sit in a cell for a year because you don't have $500 for bail... or plead guilty. New York recently took up legislation on this topic after someone spent over a year in jail because they felt innocent, and then killed them self.
ska 10y ago
How many of those to the original crime though? I've read (this could be wrong) that plea bargaining has become endemic, which makes many of these statistics biased-to-useless.
- deelowe 10y ago
  It's so endemic that plea bargaining is a part of the official process for minor traffic violations. I used to get a lot of speeding tickets and I would always take them to court, because the solicitor would always negotiate just prior to the trail. It usually saves you some money if you do this (depends on the jurisdiction) The process was almost always for the DA or solicitor to recommend you plea guilty or no contest. If you plead guilty, you would not see the judge and you'd get a reduced sentence (typically increased fine, but no points on your license). No contest would have different rules depending on the court, but would also end up better for you in the long run most times. The one time I please innocent (I truly felt I was), I ended up with 6 months probation, 2x the fine, and double the points on my license. In the end, the cost was well over double what I would have paid if I had just not contested and dealt with the solicitor. The judge even commented during the proceedings how taking such a simple case of speeding in front of the court wastes everyone's time and I should have been ashamed. BTW, I was contesting the case, because there was no speed limit sign posted where I was pulled over. Evidently there had been construction completed recently which changed the number of lanes and intersections. This caused the county to reduce the speed limit, but they failed to install a new sign. The old one was removed during the construction. That sign was never installed. It only got fixed after additional changes were made several years later.
xxs 10y ago
Remember Aaron Swartz? If keeping some semblance of life respect matters one would better plead guilty and be done with. On a flip note, any source for that '98%'?

That's not a good thing. It frequently comes down to... Plead guilty to a misdemeanor and a few months behind bars. Or, go to trial, face a felony charge, with increased risks to later life (felony = more jail-time, harder to find a job, etc).

sixothree 10y ago
I feel like the only way to solve this is to ensure the plea is within some margin of the actual charges.
- thfuran 10y ago
  We need many times more public defenders so people have representation actually able to spend time on the case.
  - alistairSH 10y ago
    Even with a competent lawyer, how many will be willing to roll the dice on a trial? Take a fairly "common" drunk in public... should be a night in jail and fine, or similar. But, a poorly trained cop was involved, so they're now adding resisting arrest (another misdemeanor) AND assaulting a police officer (felony with mandatory minimum sentencing). Now, instead of fighting the original misdemeanor on it's merits, you're pleading guilty to it to avoid a potentially life-ruining felony.

cwingrav 10y ago

Because: sit in a cell for a year because you don't have $500 for bail... or plead guilty. New York recently took up legislation on this topic after someone spent over a year in jail because they felt innocent, and then killed them self.

ska 10y ago

How many of those to the original crime though? I've read (this could be wrong) that plea bargaining has become endemic, which makes many of these statistics biased-to-useless.

deelowe 10y ago
It's so endemic that plea bargaining is a part of the official process for minor traffic violations. I used to get a lot of speeding tickets and I would always take them to court, because the solicitor would always negotiate just prior to the trail. It usually saves you some money if you do this (depends on the jurisdiction) The process was almost always for the DA or solicitor to recommend you plea guilty or no contest. If you plead guilty, you would not see the judge and you'd get a reduced sentence (typically increased fine, but no points on your license). No contest would have different rules depending on the court, but would also end up better for you in the long run most times. The one time I please innocent (I truly felt I was), I ended up with 6 months probation, 2x the fine, and double the points on my license. In the end, the cost was well over double what I would have paid if I had just not contested and dealt with the solicitor. The judge even commented during the proceedings how taking such a simple case of speeding in front of the court wastes everyone's time and I should have been ashamed. BTW, I was contesting the case, because there was no speed limit sign posted where I was pulled over. Evidently there had been construction completed recently which changed the number of lanes and intersections. This caused the county to reduce the speed limit, but they failed to install a new sign. The old one was removed during the construction. That sign was never installed. It only got fixed after additional changes were made several years later.

xxs 10y ago

Remember Aaron Swartz? If keeping some semblance of life respect matters one would better plead guilty and be done with. On a flip note, any source for that '98%'?