I don't think that plea bargaining is inherently a bad thing, but when there's a massive disparity between the plea-bargained sentence and the normal sentence a

I don't think that plea bargaining is inherently a bad thing, but when there's a massive disparity between the plea-bargained sentence and the normal sentence and especially if the police can start treating suspects like felons even before going to trial (taking kids away, confiscating property, etc.) then there's a large possibility for abuse. I think a good system would be to offer plea-bargains but only at a set percentage reduction of the original sentence, and only if the suspect isn't under some other form of pressure from the police. That would still encourage people who know the police have a very solid case against them to take the bargain, but not do much to encourage people who think they have a real shot at winning a trial by jury.