Plea bargaining: Ethics and Legal Consequences

Rajvir kaur

St. Soldier law College, Jalandhar                            

Introduction: A Plethora of criminal proceedings end not with trials but with Plea Bargaining. This concept was originated in America and also used by the UK and India[1].  It is an agreement between the victim and the accused by which the accused agrees to plead guilty to a less serious reduced sentence without facing the lengthy trial procedure. By the latest date of NCRB, the ratio of the cases that are disposed of through plea bargaining is only 0.11%. It is a crucial element in the Indian judicial system for speeding up the trials. As this mechanism helps to remove the burden of the courts, it creates ethical issues and legal consequences as well. Plea bargaining contains charge bargaining, count bargaining, sentence bargaining, and fact bargaining.

Meaning of Plea bargaining:  The word Plea has been derived from two words: Plea and Bargaining. The term plea means request and bargaining means negotiation. It means the defendant requests the prosecution to negotiate for a lesser punishment rather than an original punishment. The parties in plea bargaining come up with a contract such as the defendant accepting the punishment prescribed by the prosecution and in consideration prosecution gives lesser punishment to him.

Various sources prescribed the definition of Plea bargaining. :-

1. In Black's Law Dictionary: Plea bargaining has been defined as a negotiated agreement between a prosecutor and a criminal defendant whereby the defendant pleads guilty to a lesser offense or one of multiple. charges in exchange for some concession by the prosecutor, usually a more lenient sentence 

2. Oxford dictionary[2]: In criminal proceedings, an agreement between the prosecution and the defence by which the accused agrees to plead guilty to a lesser charge in return for an offer by the prosecution. (for example, to offer no evidence on a more serious charge against the accused)

Categories of Plea Bargaining:- There are four kinds of plea bargaining such as Charge bargaining, Count bargaining, Sentence bargaining, or fact bargaining.

1. Charge bargaining: Under this form, the defendant pleads guilty in exchange for minor severity rather than earlier filed by the prosecution. This is suitable only for those cases where the maximum punishment is seven years or more. In some cases, the defendant charged with robbery can get the lesser punishment of theft.

2. Sentence bargaining: In this form, the defendant agrees to plead guilty to a lesser sentence than originally filed by the prosecution, if he is convicted at a trial. Also in this, if the defendant is charged with murder then he pleads guilty of murder to get the lesser punishment.

3. Fact bargaining: In this form, the defendant and the accused make an agreement about which facts will be presented in a court or which not. This method is against the criminal justice system.

4. Count bargaining: Under this, the defendant agrees to plead guilty to some of the charges but not all. Such as if the accused is charged with multiple offences then he may plead guilty only to a few accusations.

Advantages of Plea bargaining: Plea bargaining is the voluntary exchange of a sentence with a lesser sentence. The data suggests that the courts are overburdened with a lot of cases, by encouraging the defendants to plead[3] guilty will help the courts to solve the cases speedily. It is widely believed that most people can also save mone because the cases are solved in less time.

Disadvantages of Plea Bargaining: A common perspective regarding plea bargaining is that some people may lose their constitutional rights[4], as the defendants have to accept the plea in exchange for the maximum sentence. It doesn’t matter whether they have committed that offense or not. Sometimes due to a lack of legal representatives, the defendant has a lack of knowledge regarding whether the acceptance of a plea is beneficial for him or not. Many times defendants face pressure to accept unfavorable terms of the plea.

Ethical issues related to plea bargaining:  The concept of plea bargaining has a lot of ethical issues. Prosecutors and Defense attorneys face challenges while guiding clients on plea bargaining. Both must navigate their challenges carefully and ensure that their actions are done by following the principles of fairness and good conscience:-

1. Voluntary: The defendants must make the application of plea bargaining voluntary and not under the pressure of prosecution. There should be no kind of undue influence, fraud, or coercion included in the plea.

2. Innocence: The innocent people plead guilty to a lesser sentence to avoid excessive punishment. They might not know about their rights and their usage.

3. Prejudicial Treatment: Sometimes the defendant can’t afford the financial expenses of the legal representatives https://www.abtlaw.com/ https://ktenaslaw.com/[5]. This might cause the problem of accepting the wrong charges on themselves and also use plea bargaining to finish the court proceedings as soon as possible.

4. Lack of knowledge regarding acceptance: Sometimes the defendant has a lack of knowledge regarding the consequences of accepting the plea, which may cause problems for them.

There is  a landmark judgment in which the Hon’ble Supreme Court has criticized the concept of plea bargaining, namely Murlidhar Meghraj Loya vs. the State of Maharashtra, The Supreme Court rejected the concept of plea bargaining, due to some reasons :

1.     It has no legal provisions under the law.

2.     It cannot be a substitute for due process but it can create other issues like coercion or undue influence etc.

3.     With this judgment, the Hon'ble Court ruled that the case should be decided based on merits or evidence but not on negotiations between the parties.

 After a long time, the concept of plea bargaining was introduced in the landmark judgment of State Of Gujarat vs Natwar Harchandji Thakor, In this case, the Hon’ble Supreme Court suggested the need for plea bargaining not just to less the punishment of the accused but also to reduce the burden of the courts. It emphasized that if plea bargaining is used in the right way then it can ensure justice while safeguarding the rights of the defendant. However, after the Criminal Amendment Act 2005, it was included in the Criminal Procedure Code under chapter XX1A (sections 265A-265L). These sections define the procedure of plea bargaining. However, it is limited to only those cases in which the punishment is less than 7 years and in petty cases.

Legal consequences of Plea Bargaining:  what if the defendant agrees to plead guilty? There are some  consequences of it which are given below:-

1. Disparity in sentencing: under this, if there is more than one defendant then they might receive different punishments due to their pleas and also with the support of their legal counsels.

2. Exploitation regarding the system: The offenders know that they can opt for plea bargaining. Owing to this, they may exploit the judicial system by pleading guilty to a lesser sentence compared with the actual punishment they may receive after the completion of trials.

3. Efficient for judicial systems: due to plea bargaining the accused pleads guilty earlier than facing the complex judicial procedure till the end, this will help the judicial system to reduce the burden of cases and it is also beneficial for prosecutors as they can focus more on serious offenses.  

Conclusion

So plea bargaining is an agreement between the prosecution and the defendant. Under this agreement, one person promises to lessen the punishment of others and the other one accepts the charges of crimes in the hope to get lesser punishment than the original one. Mainly it is used to reduce the burdens of the courts and to solve the dispute in an amicable manner. One thing that should always be remembered while getting plea bargaining by the defendant is that he must know about his rights the term of punishment and what will the consequences of it if he accepts that punishment.

References

[1] https://www.scribd.com/

[2] https://www.oxfordreference.com/

[3] Nolo’s Encyclopedia of everyday law

[4] https://www.abtlaw.com/

[5] https://ktenaslaw.com/

1976 AIR 1929 1977 SCR (1) 1

2005CRILJ2957