POL 230 – Paper 2
You can choose between 1 of the following 2 questions to write your paper on.
Option 1: Plea Bargaining
The hallmark of the criminal justice system is fairness. Some have argued that plea bargaining falls short of this ideal of fairness because it privileges those who are of a higher socioeconomic status. A public defender may urge a person to plea to a lesser charge simply because they do not have the time to devote to a person’s case as they are overworked and underpaid. Conversely, when a person is paying a private attorney they are able to devote much more time to a person’s case and therefore may be less likely to urge a defendant to take a plea. Is this fundamentally unfair or just part of the capitalist system of the United States? As a result should plea bargaining be eliminated for all defendants?
The assignment is to write an argumentative essay either in favor or against eliminating plea bargaining.
Option 2: Bail
Again, the hallmark of the criminal justice system is fairness and some have argued that bail flies in the face of this. The reason: a judge sets bail for 2 defendants at $1000. Defendant A is wealthy and can afford this bail. He is able to spend his time before the trial in the comfort of his own home. Defendant B is not wealthy and cannot raise the necessary money. Consequently, she spends her pre-trial time confined in the local jail. Both were given the same bail but for one defendant she may as well have been given a much higher bail because there was no opportunity for her to raise that amount of money. What is the ultimate purpose of bail and does it violate the fundamental fairness of the criminal justice system? Should bail be eliminated or should different factors go in to determining bail amounts?
Your assignment is to write an argumentative essay either in favor or against eliminating bail.
Paper parameters
- Approximate length of the paper: 1800 words not including title page, footnotes, endnotes and bibliography. Papers less than 1700 words will be penalized by a one half letter grade deduction.
- The paper should be typed, 12 point, times new roman (or similar font) and double-spaced.
- The paper should be stapled with page numbers.
- There is no need for a separate title page, your name as a header is sufficient.
- Be sure to proof read your paper. Papers with poor sentence structure, grammatical and typographic errors will be penalized.
- You should have between 6-8 outside and academic sources. The textbook counts as one source. No more than 2 sources should be websites.
Grading Rubric (total possible points: 80)
Your paper will be graded along the following dimensions:
| Points Possible | |
| Thesis statement | 5 |
| Argument | 55 |
| Paper structure (intro/body/conclusion) | 5 |
| Proper presentation (font, page #s, staple) | 5 |
| Spelling/punctuation/grammar | 5 |
| Appropriate sources (number and type) | 5 |
A: 72-80 C+: 60-63
B+: 68-71 C: 56-59
B: 64-67
