The Need for ESAS©®

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The Role Plea Bargaining Plays in Sentencing

Statistics demonstrate that over 98% of criminal cases are resolved through plea bargaining. Recent studies reveal two significant conclusions that impact criminal sentencing in Florida.  First, there are vast disparities in criminal sentencing across the entire state.  Second, under certain circumstances, aggressive prosecutors can negatively influence (some) judges to issue harsh, disparate and therefore inequitable sentences for some defendants in relation to others.

Critical Questions for Criminal Defense Attorneys 

As a criminal defense attorney, are you getting the absolute fairest plea bargain offers from prosecutors?  Most importantly, are prosecutors offering your clients harsher sentences than those of similarly situated defendants with the same charges and/or substantially similar criminal score-sheet points?  

Critical Questions for Prosecutors

Are plea offers consistent, reasonable, and relatively uniform or disparate? In other words, are similarly situated defendants being offered substantially different sentences without any rational justification. Finally, are different prosecutors working in the same office disposing of  similarly situated cases differently.

Critical Questions for Criminal Court Judges 

As a judge presiding over criminal cases, are the prosecutors recommending equitable sentences for defendants with the same charges and/or substantially similar criminal score-sheet points?  Are prosecutors recommending sentences that are excessive, inequitable and therefore violate the equal protection clause of the constitution?  Are prosecutors abusing their discretion by recommending disparate sentences that may allow you to be falsely accused of issuing disparate sentences to similarly situated defendants? Are you sentencing defendants without having a means by which to compare and/or contrast sentences in prior cases with those you are contemplating in pending cases?

ESAS©® is the Solution 

If you don’t know the answers to these critical questions, the Equity in Sentencing Analysis System©® (ESAS) is the solution!   

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