Accountability

I am not a lawyer. I have never studied law. Maybe someday, just not yet. Yet there is one thing that keeps bugging me. I see it almost everyday on TV. Okay, maybe two things that bug me. The First one is the word allegedly. I know, I know, innocent until proven guilty. I get it. But by golly, when they find the girl that has been missing for 18 years in your backyard, and you and your wife match the description of the witnesses... So much for allegedly. Why in the world wold it take years to figure that one out. My main thought however is not about that, rather about accountability. Like I said I am not a lawyer, so I don't exactly understand (please teach me if you do). My question is why does the legal system the way it seems to be, favor those who plead "Not Guilty". Now first I must admit that I get my limited knowledge from the new, and watching TV, cause well I have never been to court, or in front of a judge. It seems To me from what I have learned that almost everybody, even the guilty plead "Not guilty". It is as if it is just part of the game. Plead not guilty, get the lawyer, go to court, drag it out, and lie, lie, lie. Maybe I just don't get it. Perhaps this comes from the fact that I spend so much of my time everyday, trying to teach young kids the meaning of accountability. I try so hard to teach them that it is better to be honest first and own up to what you have done. Then all they see is people pleading "Not guilty", and getting away with what they have done. Like I said, I don't know the law, but it just seems to me, that those who plead not guilty usually get a smaller punishment, plea deal, and advantages then those who plead guilty. I know it is not similar, but I remember getting pulled over, and the cop says "do you know what you were doing"? What is so wrong with saying, yeah, I was speeding officer, I am sorry. Perhaps if there were more accountability, then maybe, just maybe there would be more shame in doing. Just maybe all that I do means nothing, and all of us are better off never admitting the wrongs that we have done. But I choose to believe, that we can still live in a world where our personal honesty means something. I want to live in that place, that time, where we can be accountable. Maybe I am just more of an optimist, then a realist.