How to Use plea bargaining in a Sentence

plea bargaining

noun
  • As a result of plea bargaining, he would not be sentenced to death.
  • The case could resovle in a lesser charge through plea bargaining.
    — Bruce Vielmetti, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 26 Aug. 2020
  • Mr Mendes also favours restricting the use of plea bargaining.
    — The Economist, 21 Sep. 2017
  • The law does not provide for what the American law provides, plea bargaining and all that.
    — Tom Wright, WSJ, 14 June 2018
  • Prior studies have found racial disparities in the plea bargaining process.
    — Richard Prince, The Root, 26 Oct. 2017
  • Criminal trials have also fallen off, due to plea bargaining and the great expense of going to court.
    — Edward D. McCarthy, BostonGlobe.com, 8 May 2018
  • If a judge decides Stone’s complaint can go forward, the case could serve to shape the court system’s evolving view of plea bargaining.
    — Kim Bellware, Washington Post, 5 Feb. 2020
  • Yet despite the drawbacks of trial by jury, the alternative—the ad hoc practice called plea bargaining—is far worse.
    — Clark Neily and Somil Trivedi, WSJ, 12 Dec. 2021
  • But Mexico has no formal version of plea bargaining, and no phrase to really describe it.
    — Washington Post, 14 Dec. 2017
  • That would allow the special counsel’s team to pressure them into plea bargaining negotiations in hopes of receiving a lighter sentence.
    — Matt Ford, New Republic, 22 Feb. 2018
  • Perhaps nothing contributes more to mass incarceration than plea bargaining.
    — Washington Post, 19 Feb. 2021
  • To other legal observers, the round of charges is a routine part of plea bargaining that is drawing attention because of the high-profile nature of a scandal that has drawn nationwide attention.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 26 Oct. 2019
  • Although many of its critics are self-interested, others worry about the prosecutors’ use of preventive detention and plea bargaining.
    — The Economist, 15 June 2019
  • But as the legal system grew increasingly professionalized, plea bargaining became more common.
    — Henry Gass, The Christian Science Monitor, 12 Jan. 2022
  • Wisconsin also has a plea bargaining process that is not guided by mandatory maximums or minimums, which means the sentences and punishment are almost always left up to the discretion of prosecutors and judges.
    — Michael Harriot, The Root, 26 Oct. 2017
  • That quotation came from Judge Jackson’s undergraduate college thesis, which criticized the plea bargaining system.
    — New York Times, 21 Mar. 2022
  • The law requires or encourages this consideration during plea bargaining, sentencing or resentencing in an effort to account for the trauma a person experienced before being arrested that may have helped lead to their crimes.
    — Brent Schrotenboer, USA TODAY, 2 Feb. 2023
  • In particular, coercive plea bargaining artificially lowers the cost of obtaining a criminal conviction.
    — Clark Neily and Somil Trivedi, WSJ, 12 Dec. 2021
  • Worse, in a criminal justice system that relies on plea bargaining for more than 95% of cases and is overwhelmingly dominated by misdemeanor offenses, there may never be a chance to check whether the AI report accurately captured the scene.
    — Andrew Guthrie Ferguson, The Conversation, 15 Oct. 2025
  • Stamina Founder Davide Vannoni was convicted of criminal conspiracy after plea bargaining in 2015 and is now under investigation again.
    — Luca Tancredi Barone, Science | AAAS, 24 May 2018
  • Making sweeping changes to plea bargaining, downgrading the emphasis on forensic evidence and eyewitness testimony, and reducing prosecutorial discretion have little traction among law enforcement groups and political leaders.
    — Washington Post, 19 Feb. 2021

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'plea bargaining.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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