-The benefits to plea-bargaining for society do not outweigh the cost to the individual because 95 percent of guilty convictions are a result of plea-bargaining. While the individual is generally hurt because of plea-bargaining, society benefits and suffers from it as well. Society benefits from plea-bargaining as it keeps the criminal justice system moving forward and allows judges to see more cases in a shorter period of time. This is good for society, as individuals are not held for a long period of time waiting for their trials to come up. At the same time it does not help society because more individuals are going to jail even when they did not commit the crime because they are better off just taking the plea deal instead of fighting the case in court. Individuals end up suffering from prosecutors overcharging individuals just to gain a conviction. Society also ends up having to pay for the rising costs of prisons as more people are convicted and have to serve time. Societies also suffer from plea-bargaining because individuals are going to prison and are unable to take care of their family while being locked up.
2. If you were Kelly Jarret would you have taken the plea at either time in her case? Please discuss in detail why or why not? If yes, at which time in the case would you have taken it? (Kelly Jarret was the woman who had been in jail for 30 years.)
-If I were Kelly Jarret I would have taken the plea deal immediately when it was first offered to me, as I would have been getting off easier with the robbery charge than potentially being charged for life if convicted of murder. While it is not right to plead guilty to a crime you have not done it is too much of a risk to go to trial when the only evidence you have is a witness who cannot pinpoint whether Kelly was at the crime scene or not. With that being said the cost of taking the case to trial was too much of a risk for me to want to go to jail potentially for life. I would rather know there is a certain amount of time I will be punished for and get it over with than possibly going to jail for life.
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