Criticisms of plea bargaining often actually target features of the criminal justice system generally

Evidence

Other criticisms of plea bargaining seem on inspection to be complaints about the American criminal justice system in general rather than specifically about plea bargaining. Take, for example, the charge that plea bargaining creates opportunities for favoritism, discrimination, and corruption. The real question, however, is not the potential for abuse but the frequency of abuse. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1810

Categorization

• XREF: Signaling-theory lesson: the question is whether abuse is more frequent under plea bargaining than under trial — directly relevant to evaluating legal reform claims. — connects to: Caseload volume does not determine how much courts rely on plea bargaining — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1768; Plea bargaining dominated criminal case processing long before modern caseload growth — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1767; Plea bargaining persists even when caseload and evidence cannot explain it — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1773 (+3 more)