Reading this makes me wonder what prosecutors did before plea bargaining. I don’t think the plea deal was around in 1787. Somehow the system went from 0% pleas to 95% pleas somewhere along the line.
Before plea bargaining, they just went to trial. Defendants did not always have access to a lawyer and the charges were simple allegations supported by straightforward evidence (namely witness testimony). You could breeze through a dozen felony trials in a day.
The first shift was around the Civil War but its use really ramped with Prohibition as the volume of federal cases skyrocketed. Its justification was and always has been a resource efficiency argument.
Reading this makes me wonder what prosecutors did before plea bargaining. I don’t think the plea deal was around in 1787. Somehow the system went from 0% pleas to 95% pleas somewhere along the line.
Before plea bargaining, they just went to trial. Defendants did not always have access to a lawyer and the charges were simple allegations supported by straightforward evidence (namely witness testimony). You could breeze through a dozen felony trials in a day.
The first shift was around the Civil War but its use really ramped with Prohibition as the volume of federal cases skyrocketed. Its justification was and always has been a resource efficiency argument.