Plea Bargained vs. Open Pleas: What the Data Reveal
By Alan Ellis, Esq., and Mark H. Allenbaugh, Esq.
Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 11 governs guilty pleas for federal criminal defendants. This expert analysis examines the raw sentencing data published by the U.S. Sentencing Commission regarding the types of pleas defendants enter and the sentences they receive.
In particular, we examine the number and rate of pleas under agreements (whether written or oral, conditional or not) versus open pleas.