content: Those are two different things.    Plea deals can often be good deals, and rejecting them can result in them throwing the book at you.  Often they stack the charges against people just to encourage a reasonable plea deal.  There's many an innocent who took a year's probation rather than risk a ruined life and years of nightmare incarceration.   NEVER plead guilty and hope for mercy though, get a deal in writing before the plea.  Expressing remorse and asking for leniency is for sentencing. :-)