Benefits of plea bargaining

Benefits to the defendant

• A major reason why a person prefers to accept his guilt under the plea bargaining concept is that he believes that by accepting the charges and making a plea, he will be given some relief in the punishment, and there could be some chance that he will, even if given punishment, not be given the maximum that is prescribed for that offence. And even if the sentence is not reduced, he may get punishment for some less severe charges.
• This is no hidden fact that even after numerous reforms in the judicial system, a common man still has to face many troubles. So instead of getting crushed in the system and facing stress and anxiety, a person prefers to quickly finish the trial by accepting his guilt and making a plea bargain along with it.
• By making the plea, a guilty person no doubt still has to face some punishment, but that is comparatively less than what he would often have to face. And this brings the possibility of maintaining his family ties and fulfilling his obligations towards his family.
• Because of the quick completion of the trial, the news regarding facing the trial by the defendant will not widely circulate in the society, and thus the person has to face less stigma from the society. This is often used to avoid publicity and getting embarrassed.
• Another benefit a defendant finds is that either he chooses to go with a complete trial or shortens the trial by accepting his guilt. He has to pay the necessary expenses involved in the case and devote the time to complete the court proceedings; thus, he prefers to choose the latter option and get some relief this way.

Benefits to the attorney

• The prosecutors (victim side attorney appointed by the state) as well as the defence attorney, by making the defendant agree to plead guilty, reduce their caseload and save their time in preparing for the upcoming matters. This way, they could focus on other more severe offence cases pending with them as well as get some time for themselves.
• The prosecutor’s conviction rate is also improved if the defendant agrees to accept his guilt.
• The resources of the attorney’s, which otherwise would be involved in completing the trial, are also saved and can be devoted to other cases to dispose of them more quickly and efficiently.

Benefits to the judges

• The trial gets shortened by accepting the charges, which saves the time of the judges as such cases are quickly disposed of.
• Through quick disposal of the cases through plea bargaining, the caseload of the courts is also reduced. This makes the per judge case pendency ratio less, which would improve their efficiency as they could focus on other severe offence cases with adequate time.
• Instead of putting the resources for investigating the matter, managing and organising documents, etc., the court can divert such resources into other serious offence cases whose trial is needed to be completed more urgently.
• By accepting the guilt and making a plea of bargaining the sentence or charge, the defendant closes his doors to making the order change or reversed in the appeal stage. He cannot, in an ordinary manner, go to a higher court to set aside his punishment because he himself accepts his guilt. Although he has other remedies to deal with this issue, because of the limited scope for appeal, the higher judges will have to deal with a comparatively smaller number of cases, which will come from the subordinate courts.
• The judge, along with the attorney, shares the responsibility of determining the guilt as well as the sentence that can be imposed on the defendant once he makes a plea of bargaining his sentence by accepting his guilt.

Benefits to the victim

• If the attorney’s are successful in making the defendant ready to accept his guilt either through the plea bargaining process, which could lessen his sentence, the victim will be relieved of the anxiety about whether he will get justice or not, as the defendant in such a case will be declared guilty with certainty if other circumstances also align with it.
• The victim had to undergo mental stress, trauma, and anxiety during the court proceedings, but if the defendant chooses the path of plea bargaining, the victim will also get some relief from all this stress. Sometimes people prefer their mental peace more than getting the accused punished for the wrong done by him.

Benefits to other classes of persons

• The work burden of the police officials also gets reduced, as otherwise they would be involved in all such court proceedings and wouldn’t get enough time to maintain law and order on the ground level.
• The time a guilty or accused person spends in jail puts an additional burden on the jail authorities. Thus, spending less time in jail will also be beneficial for jail staff and management.
• Along with it, the more time a person spends in jail, the higher are the chances that he will indulge in such wrong-minded people, and once he gets out, he will get involved in a bigger crime. Thus, releasing the person at an appropriate time is sometimes beneficial. 
• Believing in the reformation of the offenders, they are sent to rehabilitation centres, which are run by the state or centre, and to make them run, the money of the taxpayers is used. Thus, by accepting the guilt and making a plea to lessen his sentence, a person acknowledges his mistake and wants a chance to improve himself. This in itself is a reformation, and thus fewer people will be needed to be sent to the rehab centres.