ABSTRACT
Plea bargains and trials are frequently conceptualized in opposing terms: jury trials are thought to epitomize the ideal of justice while plea bargains are viewed as a gross corruption of justice. In an effort to assess whether one mode of case disposition is actually any more equitable than the other for poor defendants, we investigate in this chapter how Defenders negotiate the terms of plea bargains. Plea bargains in Smith City are also negotiated almost anywhere and at almost any time throughout the life of an ongoing criminal case. The Defenders' goal throughout the course of any criminal case is to mitigate the harm that could befall a defendant. They maintain that because the prosecutor typically makes acceptable offers for guilty pleas or drops the charges in cases where the evidence is very weak, trials are rare and plea bargains are the most likely method through which they seek their goal.
