Almost all of the people who plead guilty are actually guilty. (I was a former public defender. Most of our clients admitted to committing the crime, they just wanted to minimize any fines or the time spent in jail/prison.)
The Hollywood trope of someone pleading guilty to protect someone else doesn't happen in real life--it's a disbarrable offense in most states for a prosecutor to suggest that they'd imprison a family member (such as a spouse) for X crime if the defendant doesn't plead guilty to Y crime. Moreover, plea bargains, by their nature, apply only to the defendant; other individuals are not parties to the bargain and aren't bound to (or protected by) it.
In some states, inadequate representation is a serious concern. These are mostly red states. People there have repeatedly, over the course of decades, chosen to underfund public defenders. Frequently, this is despite having friends or family who have been arrested and gone through the criminal process. If, after several decades and personal exposure to the inadequacies of the system, they choose to screw themselves over, why should I, in a state willing to fund its public defenders, spend more of my money when those people won't?
The threat of increased jail time is a popular online meme not borne out in real life. Armchair lawyers don't realize that you can plead at any time before the the verdict--literally, up to the second it's read out it. This means that you can wait to see how the case is going before deciding whether to plead. But again, most people are actually guilty, accept that their is a punishment to pay for their crime, and simply want to move on.
The Hollywood trope of someone pleading guilty to protect someone else doesn't happen in real life--it's a disbarrable offense in most states for a prosecutor to suggest that they'd imprison a family member (such as a spouse) for X crime if the defendant doesn't plead guilty to Y crime. Moreover, plea bargains, by their nature, apply only to the defendant; other individuals are not parties to the bargain and aren't bound to (or protected by) it.
In some states, inadequate representation is a serious concern. These are mostly red states. People there have repeatedly, over the course of decades, chosen to underfund public defenders. Frequently, this is despite having friends or family who have been arrested and gone through the criminal process. If, after several decades and personal exposure to the inadequacies of the system, they choose to screw themselves over, why should I, in a state willing to fund its public defenders, spend more of my money when those people won't?
The threat of increased jail time is a popular online meme not borne out in real life. Armchair lawyers don't realize that you can plead at any time before the the verdict--literally, up to the second it's read out it. This means that you can wait to see how the case is going before deciding whether to plead. But again, most people are actually guilty, accept that their is a punishment to pay for their crime, and simply want to move on.