The Plea Bargaining Process

Plea bargaining is a commonly used prosecutorial method to dispose of a case without going to trial. A plea bargain or negotiated plea is an agreement between the defense and the prosecutor in which a defendant pleads guilty to a criminal charge and in exchange he expects to receive some form of consideration from the state. (Neubauer, 2002, p. 323) Most cases never make it to trial, more than 80 percent of criminal cases filed ended with the defendant entering a guilty plea. (Fagin, 2003, p. 61)
Plea bargaining became common sometime after the Civil War. …