When Americans think of the criminal justice system, they picture a trial. The right to a trial by jury is supposed to undergird our entire justice system – but that bedrock constitutional right has all but disappeared thanks to plea bargaining. In 2018, more than 97 percent of defendants pleaded guilty.

On Wednesday, March 23, the Drug Enforcement and Policy Center hosted a panel discussion featuring Professor Carissa Byrne Hessick on how plea bargaining undermines justice. In her latest book, Punishment Without Trial: Why Plea Bargaining is a Bad Deal, Hessick makes the case against plea bargaining and illustrates why and how we need to fix it if we ever hope to achieve lasting criminal justice reform.

Panelists:
Carissa Byrne Hessick, Ransdell Distinguished Professor of Law, University of North Carolina School of Law; Director, Prosecutors and Politics Project
The Honorable Justice Michael Donnelly, Ohio Supreme Court
Ric Simmons, Chief Justice Thomas J. Moyer Professor for the Administration of Justice and Rule of Law, The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law

Moderator:
Michael Zuckerman, Visiting Assistant Professor, The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law