Private counsels and public defenders: A look at weak cases, prior records, and leniency in plea bargaining

Abstract

A survey of 166 city and county prosecutors from Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia was conducted, including thirty follow-up interviews. For the years 1981–1984, these prosecutors obtained 18,493 convictions. Of these, 15,522 or eighty-four percent were obtained through plea bargaining, whereas 2,971 (16 percent) resulted from trials. Plea bargaining conditions were found to be in part a function of a defendant's socioeconomic status, prior record, crime seriousness, strength of government evidence, whether the defendant had a private attorney or used a public defender, and the reputation of the defense attorney. Ninety-three percent of the cases dropped involved private defense attorneys, whereas only seven percent of the cases dropped involved public defenders. Of the total number of convictions secured through plea bargaining, forty-one percent were of defendants using private attorneys, whereas fifty-nine percent involved public defenders.