Summary by The Week: "It’s the dirty secret of the American criminal justice system," says David Usborne. Although every citizen has the right to be tried by jury, very few defendants ever exercise it even if they’re innocent. Instead they feel pressure to take "a plea bargain" – to accept a lesser sentence by pleading guilty to a reduced charge rather than risk being defended badly by an overworked public defender and convicted at trial. All this relieves pressure on the justice system, but doesn’t say much for justice. And now something similar is happening over here. Earlier this year, ministers introduced a criminal courts charge in England and Wales. Fixed at £150 for those pleading guilty to summary offences, it can reach £1,000 if a person is found guilty. As critics point out, £150 is a fortune for an unemployed or homeless person charged, say, with petty theft; and fear of being hit by higher charges makes it more than likely that such people will plead guilty even if they aren’t. Some magistrates are resigning over the issue. No wonder. It could prove "a step along the road to America’s iniquitous system".
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