As mentioned before on this blog, our criminal justice system is broken. And it’s mostly the “conservatives” fault. The Warren court gave us all of our cherished “rights” and the conservative courts since have embarked on a mission to take all of those cherished rights away.
Back in 1969, our justice system had just become more just (Again, thanks to the Warren Court). In Scott v United States, 135 US App DC 377; 419 F2d 264, 276 (1969) Chief Judge Bazelon opined:
The prosecutor clearly cannot have carte blanche to apply whatever tactics he wishes to induce a guilty plea. A policy of deliberately overcharging defendants with no intention of prosecuting on all counts simply in order to have chips at the bargaining table would, for example, constitute improper harassment fo the defendant.
See People v White, 390 Mich 245, 258-259 (1973)
Overcharging is just one of the many problems with our unjust system of justice.