If the DA is able to construe a set of charges carrying a maximum multi-year or even multi-decade custodial sentence, and when the option of not even being able to be considered for parole can be added as a condition of your sentence — no matter what kind of prison behavior you show, or how you respond as a prisoner to rehabilitation or reconciliation programs — then the plea bargaining process itself begins to seem a lot like an extrajudicial and unconstitutional trial of the kind one is surprised a moral society would endorse.
Anyway I don't know how much you are helping the USA here in your argument. A deal in the US is often like:
"Look, kid. With this deal, you get 1 year in prison. If we choose to prosecute, you are looking at 30 years to life. Your call. Remember, you have a [kid|mother|girlfriend]."
Who would risk going up in court, even if you maybe didn't even do very much? It's basic economics. The risk is too great that jury is going to hate you, no matter what you did or didn't do. Better take the bargain and cut your losses.
Settlements, for civil cases, not so much, and I think it's an overall positive.
By your logic, are you also saying the United States makes a mockery of the criminal justice system?
So if you get convicted of a crime in the US, then you’d better pray to God that it isn’t handled by the DA.