It is clear that plea bargaining has become the primary method for criminal case disposition in the United States. It also is likely that defense attorneys, like other courtroom work group actors, generally benefit from such an expedited system of justice. What is less clear, however, is the degree that they may feel stressed by getting too much of a good thing. This article presents data that suggest that judicially created “no-trial option” environments rank among the highest of potential stressors confronting public defenders. Apart from the strong general effects such environments have on defenders, regression analyses suggest that such environments tend to moderately exacerbate defender-client and defender-prosecutor conflicts as well.
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