Plea-bargaining.

Plea-bargaining means pleading guilty to a lesser charge: the practice of arranging with the prosecution, and sometimes a judge, for a defendant to plead guilty to a less serious charge rather than be tried for a more serious one. Don't criminal defendants have the right to plea bargain every case? Absolutely not. A defendant has the right either to plead guilty to the entire indictment or to demand a trial. Plea bargaining requires the court's …

…be ignored. Some of the reasons I think it is beneficial are that roughly 90 percent of convictions occur when the defendant waives the right to trial and pleads guilty. By pleading small crimes down, the prosecutor can devote more resources to other, more important crimes. Additionally, the prospect of reduced punishment and reduced court costs to the defendant which a plea bargain offers gives the defendant an incentive to confess which would otherwise be absent.