"Could courts even handle a system without plea bargains?"
In a system without plea bargains, the prosecutors wouldn't be able to prosecute as many people, or as many charges. They wouldn't have the resources to go after nearly as many people. The courts would thus have less cases to hear.
Even the suggested system where the prosecution pays the legal costs of the fraction of charges they don't meet would be limiting to prosecutions. I imagine even that would be very difficult to convince legislators to agree to, as it increases costs and hence would reduce the amount of criminals that can be 'put away'.
I find the whole plea bargaining system to be obscene. Prosecutors are basically blackmailing the person into accepting a lesser charge, even if they are innocent of any charge. I remember the first few times I saw this type of thing on tv shows, I thought it was some kind of corrupt dealing: 'surely this is illegal, making a shady private deal between the suspect and the lawyer'.
In a system without plea bargains, the prosecutors wouldn't be able to prosecute as many people, or as many charges. They wouldn't have the resources to go after nearly as many people. The courts would thus have less cases to hear.
Even the suggested system where the prosecution pays the legal costs of the fraction of charges they don't meet would be limiting to prosecutions. I imagine even that would be very difficult to convince legislators to agree to, as it increases costs and hence would reduce the amount of criminals that can be 'put away'.
I find the whole plea bargaining system to be obscene. Prosecutors are basically blackmailing the person into accepting a lesser charge, even if they are innocent of any charge. I remember the first few times I saw this type of thing on tv shows, I thought it was some kind of corrupt dealing: 'surely this is illegal, making a shady private deal between the suspect and the lawyer'.