Discuss the ethical and legal implications involved in the plea bargain offered to Paul Hayes, who was offered a 5-year sentence for a guilty plea for attempting to pass a bad check, in exchange for not going to trial under Kentucky’s three-strike law.

 

Answer:

Finally, it is posited that plea bargaining, in its present uncontrolled form, cannot be justified as ethical and rational, or supported as practical, when it disproportionately and adversely im- pacts the poor and minorities.
In plea bargains, prosecutors usually agree to reduce a defendant’s punishment. They often accomplish this by reducing the number of charges of the severity of the charges against defendants. They might also agree to recommend that defendants receive reduced sentences.

Utilitarianism holds that the correct answer to a problem is the one that maximizes “utility.” the amount of punishment to which a defendant must submit in order to convince a prosecutor to enter a plea agreement. The correct choice is the one that will result in the least amount of punishment.

Order this paper