New York Federal Judge: Tens Of Thousands Of Innocent People Have Likely Pleaded Guilty

[n2doc]

BY NICOLE FLATOW

A prominent New York federal judge said this week that a broken guilty plea system is sending too many people innocent people to prison, coerced by the threat of long prison sentences and not enough information.

U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff said the modern American system in which 97 percent of defendants plead guilty “is totally different from what the founding fathers had in mind.” Rakoff elaborated on his concerns during an interview with the New York Daily News, a month after he first raised the issue during a speech at the University of Southern California.

Rakoff blamed draconian mandatory minimum sentences for coercing defendants into accepting plea deals, forcing defendants to “choose between Satan and Lucifer.” He cited estimates that between 1 and 8 percent of those who plead guilty are actually innocent. Even if that percentage were just 0.5 percent, that would be 10,000 people, he tells the New York Daily News.

We only know about a fraction of this population, and they are particularly difficult to identify, since many defendants their case finalized once they make the calculation to enter a plea. In 2013, 87 people were exonerated — 17 percent for false guilty pleas.

more
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/05/27/3441890/new-york-federal-judge-tens-of-thousands-of-innocent-people-have-pleaded-guilty/

[1StrongBlackMan]

1. Try Hundreds of thousands, Good Judge ...

Hundreds of Thousands.

And to many, including on liberal sites ask, "If they're not guilty, why would they plead out?"

The answer is their attorney convinces them that probation or a 3 year deal is better than risking a conviction carrying 50 years.

I've told this story before; but ...

Years ago, I watched a veteran Public Defender "mentoring" a freshly minted public defender ... she was absolutely buried and losing it. His advice: "Take your case files home this weekend ... sit down with the libation of your choice ... read through each file ... sort them into three piles: the first pile are those cases you feel strongly about your ability to win; this pile should make up not more than 5% of your docket and will take up a lot of your time in preparing for trial. The second pile are those cases you don't think you have a shot of winning. This pile will make up about 60% of your docket. You're job with this pile is to get the best deal you can from the prosecutor. The remaining 35% of the docket, you work until you get a deal you can sell to the defendant or you become convinced you can win at trial.

[n2doc]

2. Yep, had that happen to a good friend of mine

Had to plead to a resisting arrest charge over a felony assaulting an officer, even though they had the incident on tape and the only assaulting was being done by the police.

[rhett o rick]

3. No shit Sherlock. The DA charges the suspect with a dozen crimes and scares the hell out

of them. The oligarchs love keeping the prisons full.

[awoke_in_2003]

4. We have a three tier judicial system...

One for the wealthy, one for middle class and lower whites, and a third for minorities.