Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="rickyb" data-source="post: 3398265" data-attributes="member: 56035">hey next financial crisis (or even right now, why not?) america (and probably canada too) can start hiring people so it can have an actual decent justice system!!!a guilty plea doesnt mean guilt btw <img src="/community/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/wink.png"&nbsp; class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=";)" title="Wink&nbsp; &nbsp; ;)" data-shortname=";)" />:The students I teach in prison who have the longest sentences are, almost without exception, the ones who demanded a jury trial. If everyone charged with a crime had a jury trial, the court system would implode. Prosecutors, defense attorneys and judges use those who insist on a jury trial—often people who did not commit the crime with which they were charged—as examples. Their sentences, frequently life sentences, are grim reminders as to why it is in the best interests of a defendant, even if he or she did not commit the crime, to take a plea agreement. Ninety-four percent of state-level felony convictions and 97 percent of federal felony convictions are the result of guilty pleas. And <a href="https://www.hrw.org/report/2013/12/05/offer-you-cant-refuse/how-us-federal-prosecutors-force-drug-defendants-plead" target="_blank">studies by groups such as Human Rights Watch</a> confirm the punitive nature of jury trials: Those who go to jury trials get an addition 11 years, on average, tacked on to their sentences. The rich get high-priced lawyers and lengthy jury trials. The poor are shipped directly to jail or prison.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="rickyb, post: 3398265, member: 56035"] hey next financial crisis (or even right now, why not?) america (and probably canada too) can start hiring people so it can have an actual decent justice system!!! a guilty plea doesnt mean guilt btw ;): The students I teach in prison who have the longest sentences are, almost without exception, the ones who demanded a jury trial. [B]If everyone charged with a crime had a jury trial, the court system would implode.[/B] Prosecutors, defense attorneys and judges use those who insist on a jury trial—often people who did not commit the crime with which they were charged—as examples. Their sentences, frequently life sentences, are grim reminders as to why it is in the best interests of a defendant, even if he or she did not commit the crime, to take a plea agreement. [B]Ninety-four percent of state-level felony convictions and 97 percent of federal felony convictions are the result of guilty pleas. [/B]And [URL='https://www.hrw.org/report/2013/12/05/offer-you-cant-refuse/how-us-federal-prosecutors-force-drug-defendants-plead']studies by groups such as Human Rights Watch[/URL] confirm the punitive nature of jury trials: Those who go to jury trials get an addition 11 years, on average, tacked on to their sentences. The rich get high-priced lawyers and lengthy jury trials. The poor are shipped directly to jail or prison. [/QUOTE]

Verification