Our local newspaper provides in-depth coverage of crime and legal proceedings. Three generalizations:

1. If you are arrested for anything other than a minor misdemeanor, the police load charges against you. For example: if you're busted for, say, personal use quantity of pot, they also charge you with possession of drug paraphernalia (a pipe, wrapping papers), DUI, and, if you are carrying a gun legally, possession of a dangerous weapon while committing a crime. I suppose loading those charges is an incentive for you to plead guilty to the pot possession charge in return for dropping the others.

2. The most severe sentences handed down here are for anything to do with meth (even more so than heroin) and possession of child pornography, or sex with a minor. Double digit sentences, "flat time" (no chance of parole).

3. If you've pleaded not guilty to a serious felony, the judge who'd preside over your trial has a pre-trial hearing with you and tells you what kind of sentence you'd get if you went to trial and were found guilty, vs. what you could expect in a plea bargain (a lot less). This strikes me as intimidation--your lawyer should work out a plea bargain possibility with the prosecutor, not the judge who'd hear your case and sentence you.