Guilty As Charged

Unpopular Attorney General John Ashcroft announced tougher guidelines on plea bargaining for federal prosecutors. While it's not a detailed policy, it instructs prosecutors to seek a conviction for "the most serious, readily provable offense" in criminal cases tried before federal courts. I'm not a criminal justice expert, but based on what I know the biggest effect of this, if obeyed, will be longer, more expensive trials. The results will probably be more fair - innocent accusees who formerly plea-bargained to avoid a long sentance will now be more likely to go free, and guilty parties will be accountable for their entire crime, not just part of it.

However, if Ashcroft's policy is really followed, we could see sharply rising costs and delays in the federal justice system, and inconsistencies between state and federal prosecution. While this is a good policy in principle, far more depth is needed to ensure that it doesn't do more harm than good to the system

Plea bargains are a popular and powerful tool for prosecutors to secure the cooperation of defendants and to speed cases through the system without devoting additional time and resources to a trial. Some 96 percent of the 60,000 cases handled by federal prosecutors in 2001, the last year for which complete figures were available, resulted in plea bargains, officials said... Cases that allow for exceptions include the "substantial assistance" of a cooperating defendant, the drain on resources that a trial might cause and the Justice Department's approval of a "fast-track" program used to expedite prosecutions, like the type used in Southwest border states to prosecute illegal immigrants... Despite the large percentage of cases that result in plea bargains, Justice Department officials said they did not expect the new policy to mean a "significant" reduction in their use, but they added that it was too early to predict the ultimate impact in terms of pleas or length of sentences.

Also worth noting is the NYTimes article from which I lifted my quotes. Nine of twenty-three paragraphs quote or mention negative reaction to the policy. No positive reaction is mentioned, and just four paragraphs are devoted to Ashcroft and his assistants' explanation of the policy. The Washington Post may have swung right with the new administration, but the New York Times remains as trenchantly left-wing as ever.