Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

drpvn t1_j16q46u wrote

Reply to comment by Traditional_Way1052 in New York City Unveils Gate of the Exonerated in Central Park Honoring Wrongly Convicted People by lifandigoosogn

Nobody is compelled to take a plea deal.

But yes, I lean toward thinking that conduct by interrogators should remain legal.

0

PopEnvironmental1335 t1_j16rkb3 wrote

Season 3 of Serial discusses at length how many people are basically coerced into taking a plea deal. A lawyer even went on record and said that judges get pissed if too many people choose a jury trial. The courts are so overloaded that there has to be a certain number of plea deals or else everything grinds to a halt. The system is designed to punish people who don’t plea guilty.

3

drpvn t1_j16rr41 wrote

What about the other hypothetical I asked: Should an undercover cop be required to tell people that he’s a cop, or should he be allowed to lie about that?

1

Traditional_Way1052 t1_j185zrr wrote

Are you aware what percentage of people go to trial? People can absolutely be compelled to take a plea deal; for financial reasons, for family reasons, for the sheer horror that is jail. If you aren't even going to acknowledge that possibility, I'm not sure it's worth discussing. It's absolutely coercive. It's designed that way.

Of course undercover is different, they're out in the wild so to speak. If you can't see how that's different, again, I think you're being disingenuous. They're two very different things.

1