I think the flaw is in thinking of the justice system as some kind of factory where "expensive" needs to be taken into account because we're working on volume.
We need to stop charging so many people with crimes. Widespread criminality can only have two causes: The first is that we've criminalized too much, and the solution is obvious, repeal the unnecessary laws. The second is that society is suffering from a systemic failure of societal institutions to make a normal life superior to a life of crime, but the solution in that case should never be to increase the rate of incarceration, the solution should be to repair the social fabric -- which is where the money we currently spend on mass incarceration should be going instead.
Once you stop having so many accused, you stop needing to worry about cost, and you can just prohibit plea bargains and afford to give everyone who is accused their day in court. In fact, making prosecutions more expensive is actually a feature, because it impedes the ability to create just the sort of mass imprisonment we have today.
We need to stop charging so many people with crimes. Widespread criminality can only have two causes: The first is that we've criminalized too much, and the solution is obvious, repeal the unnecessary laws. The second is that society is suffering from a systemic failure of societal institutions to make a normal life superior to a life of crime, but the solution in that case should never be to increase the rate of incarceration, the solution should be to repair the social fabric -- which is where the money we currently spend on mass incarceration should be going instead.
Once you stop having so many accused, you stop needing to worry about cost, and you can just prohibit plea bargains and afford to give everyone who is accused their day in court. In fact, making prosecutions more expensive is actually a feature, because it impedes the ability to create just the sort of mass imprisonment we have today.