Plea circus.

• Author: Shackford, Scott
• Position: A bad bargain - Department of Justice's practice of filing charges - Brief article

When the Department of Justice accuses someone of a federal crime, prosecutors often pile a long list of related charges on top of the main offense. Frequently, the government isn't actually interested in imposing lengthy sentences. Instead, the goal is to scare the defendant into a plea, which is cheaper and faster than a trial.

In about one-third of Justice Department attorney's offices--35 out of 94, according to The Washington Post--those pleas include a clause in which defendants waive their right to later claim that their attorney was ineffective. If a defendant realizes after the fact that he was pressured into taking a bad deal, he has signed away his best bet for...