"Plea bargaining bears a risk, the extent of which is unknown, that innocent defendants may plead guilty". (President Johnson's Crime Commission, 1967) Plea-bargaining tends to extort guilty pleas from the innocent who may fear worse if they go to trial, and coerces such defendants to waive their rights to such a trial. The few innocent here and there, those the system was originally designed to protect but probably no longer does, are labeled with a criminal conviction and are sure to feel betrayed by the justice system
             There is much outrage at the thought of 'bargaining' with criminals. Many say that offenders are let off too lightly as a result of plea bargaining, that many bargains are unjust and in fact socially harmful. Presently we can not expect our society's laws to deter people from crime when criminals know that by copping a plea they can greatly reduce t
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