One of the questions posed to one of my interviewees for my book, Slaying of Imaginary Dragons, what would happened if everyone refused the pleas offered. The response was a short thought and then the response, "Our system would crash." Below is an excerpt from an article on the awesome web site Sex offender Issues. I recommend reading the entire article posted on 3/10/2012. http://sexoffenderissues.blogspot.com/

One of the questions posed to one of my interviewees for my book, Slaying of Imaginary Dragons, what would happened if everyone refused the pleas offered. The response was a short thought and then the response, "Our system would crash." Below is an excerpt from an article on the awesome web site Sex offender Issues. I recommend reading the entire article posted on 3/10/2012.   http://sexoffenderissues.blogspot.com/

Go to Trial: Crash the Justice System written by Michelle Alexander

On the phone, Susan said she knew exactly what was involved in asking people who have been charged with crimes to reject plea bargains, and press for trial. “Believe me, I know. I’m asking what we can do. Can we crash the system just by exercising our rights?”

The answer is yes. The system of mass incarceration depends almost entirely on the cooperation of those it seeks to control. If everyone charged with crimes suddenly exercised his constitutional rights, there would not be enough judges, lawyers or prison cells to deal with the ensuing tsunami of litigation. Not everyone would have to join for the revolt to have an impact; as the legal scholar Angela J. Davis noted, “if the number of people exercising their trial rights suddenly doubled or tripled in some jurisdictions, it would create chaos.”

Such chaos would force mass incarceration to the top of the agenda for politicians and policy makers, leaving them only two viable options: sharply scale back the number of criminal cases filed (for drug possession, for example) or amend the Constitution (or eviscerate it by judicial “emergency” fiat). Either action would create a crisis and the system would crash — it could no longer function as it had before. Mass protest would force a public conversation that, to date, we have been content to avoid.
Now I would love to see the system crash to force reform but the reality is this is information that people get after their lives are ruined by taking a plea. Nobody ever thinks they will be falsely accused of anything. Think again.