What To Make of Plea Bargaining?

The Federalist Society student chapter at Arizona State was kind enough to host Clark Neily of Cato and me for a discussion of the modern state of plea bargaining.  Is it a coercive and reckless tool for overbearing prosecutors, and one that all but eliminates the citizen participation the Founders thought essential for the criminal justice system, or a reasonably reliable tool for the government to adjudicate the flood of criminal cases and provide justice to many more crime victims than would otherwise be possible?

Clark  —  a gentleman throughout  —  and I have at it here.