Many innocent people plead guilty to Criminal Charges because it is the lesser of two evils.

Many innocent people plead guilty to Criminal Charges because it is the lesser of two evils.

Maxim: When the plaintiff does not prove his case, the defendant is absolved

 Despite only unproven allegations being made against them many defendants are placed into the awful position of spending 6- 8 months in Jail waiting for a trial when they are in fact innocent. At trial the Prosecutors will be unable to prove their case against the Defendant and a Finding of not guilty will be the outcome.

Often Crown prosecutors will make a plea bargain, offering to drop the most frivolous charges, if the Defendant pleads guilty to a few of the remaining charges. The benefit to the accused is that they will only receive a 1-3 month sentence (time served while incarcerated will be taken of this calculation) then they are free after serving the remainder of the time, with a criminal charge now permanently on their record.
The Crown Prosecutors look to be doing their jobs, prosecuting criminals, and the jails are full.

One does not consider the impact this has on the innocent Defendant’s family. The family loses a loved one for a time, the immediate family may lose their only source of income, children are without a father, the Defendant may loses his or her Job, and many other factors which pressure innocent people to plead guilty when they are not so, with the promise of being released early.

Facing 6- 8 months in jail or longer to prove innocence or alternatively pleading guilty to charges that are totally without merit, the innocent (with their families to consider) are stuck between a rock and a hard place.
What at first appear to be, statistically, many validated criminal charges are in fact, many a man or woman’s rational choice between the lesser of two evils, the innocent plead guilty to get out of jail earlier, then spending time in Jail for crimes they did not commit.

The Criminal Justice system is inherently flawed and needs immediate changes, so that the innocent are relieved of the burden of spending lengthy jail terms for crimes they did not commit.