The Problem with Plea Deals w/Carissa Byrne Hessick

Sep 2

If you believed the many legal dramas in TV reflected actual court proceedings, you would be under the impression that our legal system is driven by the battle of wits between two lawyers at trial. If, however, you examine how our legal system operates, you would see that long ago our system became one where trials are rare. Instead, it is the plea bargain sitting at the bedrock of our legal system, but how did this happen? How did our country go from outright rejecting plea bargains so that a jury trial may happen to a country that actively punishes those who seek out a trial?

All that and more is at the forefront of this discussion between Hunter and Professor Carissa Byrne Hessick. Our guest is a law professor at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and author of the book Punishment Without Trial: Why Plea Bargaining is bad Deal. As the title suggests and as many of my guests know, plea bargaining is likely not the best for the accused, for the alleged victims, or for society at large, but what is lost when we allow justice to be negotiated behind closed doors? Tune in to this episode to find out!

Guests:

Carissa Byrne Hessick, Anne Shea Ransdell and William Garland "Buck" Ransdell, Jr. Distinguished Professor of Law, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill

Key Topics and Takeaways:

Why Carissa Wanted to Write this Book [6:00]

Carissa’s viewpoints on the legal system prior to writing [8:00]

How did Plea Bargaining become so prevalent? [13:37]

How lawyers reacted to the rise of Plea Bargaining [17:00]

Santabello v New York and SCOTUS’ endorsement of Plea Bargaining [20:00]

The Trial Penalty [22:00]

The Role of The Chief Justice in Court Admin [25:00]

Picking Apart Arguments for Plea Deals [28:00]

How Plea Deals can Hide the Truth [31:00]

Do Prosecutors have too much power and too many responsibilities? [35:00]

The Stories of Scott Hechinger as a Brooklyn Defender [39:00]