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Full-Text Articles in Law
Safety From Plea-Bargains’ Hazards, Boaz Sangero
Safety From Plea-Bargains’ Hazards, Boaz Sangero
Pace Law Review
There is a significant risk—in safety terms, a hazard—that the wide gap between the defendant’s anticipated punishment if convicted at trial and the relatively lighter punishment if he confesses in a plea-bargain will lead not only the guilty but also the innocent to confessing. In practice, only 3% of all federal cases go to trial, and only 6% of state cases. In the remainder, conviction is obtained through plea-bargaining. Indeed, plea-bargains are one of the central mechanisms facilitating false convictions.
In other fields, the meaning of a “safety-critical system” is well understood, and resources are, therefore, invested in modern safety …
The Prosecutor’S Contribution To Wrongful Convictions, Bennett L. Gershman
The Prosecutor’S Contribution To Wrongful Convictions, Bennett L. Gershman
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
A prosecutor is viewed by the public as a powerful law enforcement official whose responsibility is to convict guilty people of crimes. But not everybody understands that a prosecutor’s function is not only to win convictions of law-breakers. A prosecutor is a quasi-judicial official who has a duty to promote justice to the entire community, including those people charged with crimes. Indeed, an overriding function of a prosecutor is to ensure that innocent people not get convicted and punished.
A prosecutor is constitutionally and ethically mandated to promote justice. The prosecutor is even considered a "Minister of Justice" who has …