Prosecutors try to bully families into snitching by overcharging them, but it usually backfires and leads to *shorter* sentences.
March 20, 2026
Original Paper
Family Ties and Prosecutorial Overcharging
SSRN · 6432158
The Takeaway
The common assumption is that 'piling on' charges pressures defendants into pleading guilty to avoid a trial. However, when family members are co-defendants, they are actually less likely to plead and more likely to be placed in diversion programs, proving the 'overcharging' tactic is uniquely ineffective against family bonds.
From the abstract
Prosecutorial discretion is a feature, not a bug, of the criminal justice system. Criminal defense lawyers and defendants have long observed that discretion sometimes leads prosecutors to “overcharge” cases—bringing a greater number of charges, or more severe charges, against individuals than they can prove or than would be in the interests of justice—as a tool to induce guilty pleas. But, reports of the practice have heretofore been largely relegated to anecdote; the line between legitimate exe