The Rampart Scandal Spotlights The Shameful Legacy Of Plea Bargaining In American Law.

It's something you never see on TV: the victims of a police conspiracy pleading guilty to false charges. On TV, the wrongfully accused always proclaim their innocence to a jury. That's the American way.

Yet consistent with the general pattern of criminal cases in Los Angeles today, most of the defendants whose convictions have recently been overturned because of corruption in the police department's Rampart Division pleaded guilty.

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