That’s not a bug, that’s a feature! The prosecutor knows what evidence the prosecutor has, but the defendant knows whether he did the crime. We want the defendant to make the plea decision blind to the strength of the prosecutor’s evidence, because guilty defendants will guess that the prosecutor has strong evidence and plead guilty (even if that guess is wrong), and innocent defendants will guess that the prosecutor has weak evidence and proceed to trial. This is how we want the system to work.
I don’t think the intention of the plea deal system should be to get people who wouldn’t be found guilty in a court of law to plead guilty for any reason.
I think subverting the right to a trial by jury by creating a system that encourages people to plead guilty who the jury wouldn’t find guilty is bad. Overall I think the defendant has to little power in the US system and moving the system to give them more powers is good even if that occasionally means guilty people go free.
That’s not a bug, that’s a feature! The prosecutor knows what evidence the prosecutor has, but the defendant knows whether he did the crime. We want the defendant to make the plea decision blind to the strength of the prosecutor’s evidence, because guilty defendants will guess that the prosecutor has strong evidence and plead guilty (even if that guess is wrong), and innocent defendants will guess that the prosecutor has weak evidence and proceed to trial. This is how we want the system to work.
I don’t think the intention of the plea deal system should be to get people who wouldn’t be found guilty in a court of law to plead guilty for any reason.
I think subverting the right to a trial by jury by creating a system that encourages people to plead guilty who the jury wouldn’t find guilty is bad. Overall I think the defendant has to little power in the US system and moving the system to give them more powers is good even if that occasionally means guilty people go free.