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More than half of all criminal cases in Milwaukee County end in a plea deal. How does it work?

Don Stemen, law expert, breaks down plea deals
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Don Stemen, law expert, breaks down plea deals

Many forms of entertainment paint a very specific picture of our criminal justice system: a crime is committed, there’s an investigation, there’s a trial and then a sentence. However, the reality for most people who face criminal charges in the U.S. is much different than that. In fact, more than half of all criminal cases in Milwaukee County end in a plea deal.

A recent report looks at how plea deals are used in Milwaukee and St. Louis counties and how defendants are impacted by them.

Don Stemen, one of the authors of the report, explains that a plea deal is a negotiation and an agreement between the prosecutor's office and the defendant. The defendant then agrees to plead guilty to a crime in exchange for a reduced sentence. This provides the prosecution and defense an appealing alternative to a trial and is a common result of charged criminal cases in both cities, he shares.

The report found that 85% of criminal cases in St. Louis County result in a plea deal, that's in contrast to the 65% of cases in Milwaukee County that end in a plea deal. Stemen believes that this is a result of a difference in negotiating philosophies of the prosecution offices.

Stemen explains, "The prosecutor's office in Milwaukee has a general policy that the first offer that you make to a defendant should be the best offer you have. It should be the only offer that you make." This differs from the other typical approach of offering several deals to entice the defense into a disproportionate sentence to the charged crime.

"In Milwaukee County, prosecutors are told you charge somebody that you want them to be found guilty of. You offer them a guilty plea or a negotiation to that charge, and that's generally how most of the cases end up," he says.

The report found that defendants in both counties often didn't understand the negotiation process and felt distant from the process. To combat this, Stemen would like to see a more open dialogue between the prosecution and defense from the initial negotiation stage through the end.

Stemen describes a more ideal process as: "More formalized interactions between prosecutors and defense attorneys earlier in the process and better exchange of information between defense attorneys and prosecutors — particularly around mitigating factors that the defense attorney might know about but not communicate to the prosecutor early in the process. That would lead to better outcomes."

Joy is a WUWM host and producer for Lake Effect.
Rob is All Things Considered Host and Digital Producer.
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