Episode 88
Bargained Away: Inside America's Plea Machine
Hosted by Matt Adams
“One of the most haunting questions I've asked on social media is for prosecutors to identify any lever that the law permits them to apply in order to try to elicit a guilty plea that they would not apply because they personally think that it would be immoral, unethical or otherwise unjust to apply that much leverage. I've never had a single prosecutor in any setting identify any lever that is lawfully available to them to exert leverage to get a plea that they wouldn't apply, and … that horrifies me.”The Bill of Rights devotes more space to jury trials than any other topic. Yet today, over 90% of criminal convictions are obtained through plea bargains. How did we get here?
In this provocative episode, host Matt Adams sits down with Clark Neily, Senior Vice President for Legal Studies at the Cato Institute, who calls America’s criminal justice system a “raging dumpster fire of injustice” driven by prosecutors who prioritize efficiency over justice.
Matt and Clark explore how trial penalty, charge stacking, mandatory minimums, pretrial detention and even threats against family members are used as tools to pressure defendants — including innocent defendants — into pleading guilty.
Clark traces the historical rise of mass plea bargaining and discusses bold reforms like plea integrity units and trial lotteries that could help restore the Constitution’s promise of trial by jury.
From real-world courtroom stories of prosecutorial overreach to shocking historical parallels with medieval torture, this episode is a bracing look at how America’s criminal justice system became dominated by coercive plea bargaining.
The views expressed in this podcast are those of the participants and should not be considered the views of Fox Rothschild LLP or its attorneys. This podcast is for informational purposes only, is not legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship.