IN DEFENSE OF "BARGAIN JUSTICE".

The strongest critics of plea bargaining argue that the practice should be abolished because it coerces defendants to give up their right to trial and because it results in irrational sentences for criminal defendants, Neither charge is applicable to a system of plea negotiations that meets four basic criteria: (1) the defendant always has the alternative of an jury trial at which both verdict and sentence are determined solely on the merits: (2) the defendant is represented through, out negotiations by competent counsel; (3) both defense and prosecution have equal access to relevant evidence; and (4) both possess sufficient resources to take a ease to trial. The most fruitful direction of reform is to seek to achieve these conditions rather than attempt to eliminate plea bargaining. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]