[rayiner]

That's not necessarily better. The purpose of plea bargaining is to work the huge mass of petty criminals through the system. The legal presumption of innocence notwithstanding, these people all did the crime, and it's generally a legit crime. Getting rid of plea bargaining means that prosecutors will focus on the big fish, but also means that lower level crimes (shoplifting, pick pocketing, etc) essentially become unenforceable.

[michaelfeathers]

Yes, that's an issue, but allowing prosecutors to force any conviction that they want to by escalating charges is too far from just by any standard. It completely sidesteps fairness.

Beyond that, one could argue that the federal government should not be addressing petty crime at all.