Plea Bargain

A plea bargain is a negotiated resolution of a criminal case in which the defendant agrees to plead guilty (or nolo contendere) in return for some benefit from the prosecutor, typically a reduced charge, the dismissal of other counts, or a recommendation for a lighter sentence. The practice is most strongly associated with the United States, where the Supreme Court formally recognized its constitutional legitimacy in Brady v. United States (1970) and Santobello v. New York (1971), the latter holding that prosecutors must honor promises made during plea negotiations.

Plea bargaining typically takes three forms:

• Charge bargaining — pleading guilty to a less serious offense than originally charged.
• Sentence bargaining — pleading guilty in exchange for a lighter or agreed-upon sentence recommendation.
• Count bargaining — pleading guilty to some counts while others are dropped.

In the U.S. federal system, plea bargains are governed in part by Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, which requires judges to ensure the plea is knowing, voluntary, and supported by a factual basis. The U.S. Sentencing Commission and the Department of Justice have repeatedly reported that the overwhelming majority of federal convictions — typically over 90% — are obtained through guilty pleas rather than trials.

The practice is controversial. Supporters argue it conserves judicial resources, provides certainty to victims, and rewards cooperation. Critics, including the American Bar Association and scholars such as John Langbein, argue it can coerce innocent defendants into pleading guilty to avoid the "trial penalty" of a harsher post-trial sentence, and that it shifts adjudicative power from judges and juries to prosecutors.

Plea bargaining is less prevalent in civil-law jurisdictions, though variants exist: Italy's patteggiamento, Germany's Absprache (regulated by a 2009 statutory reform), and France's comparution sur reconnaissance préalable de culpabilité introduced in 2004. International tribunals such as the ICTY also accepted negotiated guilty pleas, notably in the case of Biljana Plavšić in 2002.