Plea bargains help to take the head off of the dragon and prevent future crimes from being committed.
There are three different types of plea bargain; they all are used to achieve the similar goal of reducing punishment, and each of them has unique pros and cons. The first of these is a charge bargain, a defendant pleads guilty for a reduction in the severity of the charges against them. Many times the defendant may be able to avoid getting a felony charge by admitting guilt to be charged with a misdemeanor. A charge bargain is a win-win for the justice system and the offender. For example, someone charged with DUI may be given a less severe charge or "second chance", if the party pleads guilty. The downside side to a charge bargain is that the offender may commit the same crime again because of the light sentencing. .
Sentence bargain is the second type of plea bargain in the criminal justice system. This type of bargain, the offender pleads guilty to get a lighter sentence. This is very similar to a charge bargain but pertains to more high profile crimes such as murder, rape, etc. A defendant would plead guilty of murder charges against them in order to get life in prison, rather than the death penalty. This type of bargaining allows cases to pass much quicker through the courts system but due to the fact that the offender is only serving life in prison they may be released and put back out onto the street.
The final type of plea bargain is the count bargain; this is where a numbers of charges, but not all, are significantly reduced to benefit the offender. If an offender has multiple charges against them, they may have the option to plead guilty on one count which would most likely still end in prison time, in exchange for the remaining charges to be dropped. Count bargains are much less common type of plea bargain because it is allowing an offender to get away with certain crimes.