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nancylebovhttps://law.yale.edu/system/files/documents/pdf/Faculty/Langbein_Land_Without_Plea_Bargaining.pdf
Longish, but worth reading at least the first half or so.
The German legal system has efficient trials, and I don't mean railroading people, I mean not wasting time by not having an adversarial system. They don't have plea bargaining because they don't have an overwhelmed court system which creates the incentive for plea bargaining.
At this point, the German style strikes me as simply superior to the American style.
If anyone knows more about how the German legal system works out in practice, let me know.
A little more about the American system....
https://www.forbes.com/sites/walterpavlo/2018/07/31/are-innocent-people-pleading-guilty-a-new-report-says-yes/#795a40d35193
Longish, but worth reading at least the first half or so.
The German legal system has efficient trials, and I don't mean railroading people, I mean not wasting time by not having an adversarial system. They don't have plea bargaining because they don't have an overwhelmed court system which creates the incentive for plea bargaining.
At this point, the German style strikes me as simply superior to the American style.
If anyone knows more about how the German legal system works out in practice, let me know.
A little more about the American system....
https://www.forbes.com/sites/walterpavlo/2018/07/31/are-innocent-people-pleading-guilty-a-new-report-says-yes/#795a40d35193
That Forbes article...
Date: 2018-08-10 11:51 pm (UTC)The article talks about how the courts are oh so overwhelmed, and then bemoans how the white-collar criminals are getting such horrible long sentences even though they didn't actually commit violence...
No mention whatsoever of the point that those white-collar criminals have been stealing the savings of multitudes, in direct violation of the trust placed in them by their clients and the public.
More importantly, that juxtaposition lets them imply (without saying) that it's the white-collar trials that are overloading the system, while they mostly avoid mentioning the elephant in the room. That would be the So-Called War On Drugs sweeping up blacks, Hispanics, and the poor.
Those folks are *also* facing massive sentences for non-violent crimes, are far more likely to get prosecuted than any (white) white-collar criminal, and are much less likely to get a competent legal defense. But hey, Forbes Magazine isn't interested in *those* people....