Plea Agreements and Public Records

In the legal field, plea agreements (sometimes referred to as “plea bargains”) are common practice. When a defendant has been charged with a crime, prior to going to trial there is an opportunity (and oftentimes a necessity), for both the defense attorney and the prosecuting attorney to determine whether or not a bargain of sorts can be struck. The person charged with the crime may have the option of pleading guilty to a lesser crime in return for a lighter sentence or some other such arrangement, rather than go to trial. If and when a plea is entered, this is documented at court. The basic process is that the defendant and their lawyer approach the judge, and then they begin by stating the agreement into the record in front of the judge. Once the plea has been entered, the judge will set a date for sentencing, at which point he/she will give out the final ruling. (The plea agreement does not determine what the final sentence will be).

Given the legal system that we have here in the United States, this is certainly a standard practice for plea bargains. These particular legal documents are public record, and they are accessible to the public. Therefore, when you enter a plea agreement, the legal framework surrounding your criminal case, including the plea agreement, becomes public. As such, the plea agreement itself is a legal document-in other words, it is documentation of a legally binding contract which was entered into between two parties: the plaintiff and the defendant. In this article, we are going to take a closer look at what a public record is; how it relates to plea agreements, and how it intersects with other types of contracts. To do so, we are going to touch upon various categories of public records: court documents, legal files, business and property records, financial filings, birth, marriage, and divorce certificates, and even something as simple as a utility bill. Many public records are minutes as far as the information they contain, or perhaps even boring in nature, but without the publication of relevant public records, the public would have no means of requesting important information about things like food safety, the sale of goods, or criminal investigations. This is precisely where an understanding of the legal systems at play in other countries (which may bear greater significance on the current import situation), comes into play. Transparency, across the board, is an essential element to maintaining trust. It serves as a means of fostering public accountability, which leads to a multitude of benefits – for both business and the public. Having an awareness and access to various legal documents is useful for both individuals and businesses. As such, there should be instances wherein comprehensive plea agreements as public records is a common question.

Taking a closer look at the relationship between public records and international business relations, particularly with regard to food imports, there is a direct correlation between the two. It is because of legal documentation that someone is held accountable for their actions, or a business organization is penalized for poor practices. Over the last decade, we have seen a marked increase of global food imports. So if one country’s food establishments are not transparent with their food safety measures, or if one nation has more lax safety requirements, that can lead to serious public health concerns, for both customers and suppliers. In order for one to understand the level of risk that they are taking when engaging in an international business relationship, they will want to consult public records relative to the country’s legal system. The standards of one country are not necessarily going to match those of another, regardless of whether or not the businesses involved have common trading partners. In other words, the USDA, FDA and Customs and Border Protection Agency may have strict guidelines, but if suppliers down the supply chain are from a different country, or even if food products from another country are coming through another nation before reaching the United States, there is no way to fully know how safe the food products are without seeing what’s on the public record. Let’s take a moment to break down the various records that one may find in the public record:

The fundamental issue with all of these categories of public records is that they do not exist in everyday life, until someone actually requests them. Therefore, despite the fact that these records are available for the public to see, few people actually make a point of looking. What this means, in relation to international food supply chains, is that businesses need to do their due diligence. However, this is also why resource sites, such as Recruiting 101, are so valuable; because we do the legwork, and provide you with the needed information through a centralized database of records. Without transparency, eventually a domino effect will occur, so it’s best to know the facts.

The bottom line is that if the public did not have access to legal records, the food import industry would be a whole lot more perilous without the ability to hold one another accountable. So exactly how does all of this tie back to the previously asked question of “are plea agreements public record?” Because they are, and they serve as yet another example of where we can look for transparency in the legal and business sectors.