“They’re overcharging for felonies that should be misdemeanors,” Cantor said. “Then they plea to the lead charge, but their lead charge is too stiff. This means everything goes to trial.” Michael Freeman, an attorney with Wolf & Associates, agreed. “Charges are more serious than they were two years ago for the same type of crimes,” he said. “For example, cases that should be charged as simple possession of drugs, or personal possession, are now being charged as possession for sale with a possible mandatory prison sentence.”
In November, Thomas said that for second offenses, he would only approve plea deals requiring a prison sentence. He estimated that would mean an additional 2,600 prison inmates each year, which would cost taxpayers an additional $53 million. Tempe defense attorney Craig Penrod said more felony DUI cases are going to trial that should be settled with plea deals. Penrod also said he saw prosecutors charge a man who sexually assaulted an infant the same way they charged stepsiblings who had consensual sex, because of Thomas’ “rote plea agreements.”
The problem with this mentality is that justice does not happen through automation. Human judgement has to be central to the criminal justice system. All defendants cannot be treated the same and create a just outcome. A good example is when a 19-year old is prosecuted as a sex offender for sleeping with his/her 15 year old girl/boy friend that they met in their highschool. I won't go into the right or wrongness of this, but I think most would agree that 40-year old sleeping with the same 15-year old is worse.
I would contend that they should not be prosecuted in the same way, thus judgement is important.
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