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OBJECTIVES: To date, most research on plea bargaining has used some form of the shadow of the trial (SOT) model to frame defendant decisions. In this research, we proposed and tested a new conceptual model of plea decision-making, based on fuzzy-trace theory (FTT), for the context in which a nondetained, guilty defendant chooses between a guilty plea or trial, where both the plea and potential trial sentence entail incarceration. HYPOTHESES: We predicted that plea decisions would be affected by (a) meaningful, categorical changes in conviction probability (e.g., low to moderate, moderate to high), as opposed to more granular changes within categories and (b) the presence and magnitude of categorical distinctions between plea offer and potential trial sentence rather than fine-grained differences between individual offers. METHOD: We conducted three vignette-based experiments (Study 1: N = 1,701, Study 2: N = 1,098, Study 3: N = 1,232), using Mechanical Turk participants. In Studies 1 and 2, we manipulated potential trial sentence and conviction probability, asking participants to indicate either the maximum plea sentence they would accept (Study 1) or whether they would plead guilty to a specific offer (Study 2). In Study 3, we manipulated plea discount and potential trial sentence and measured plea acceptance. RESULTS: Maximum acceptable plea sentences were similar within and different between "groupings" of meaningfully similar conviction probabilities (Study 1). Plea rates were similar within and different between groupings that comprised plea offers of similarly meaningful distance from the potential trial sentence (Study 3). The results also provide insight into the plea rates that might be expected under different combinations of the independent variables (Studies 2 and 3). CONCLUSIONS: These results support a new conceptual model of plea decision-making that may be better suited to explaining case-level differences in plea outcomes than the SOT model and suggest that future research extending this model to a wider range of contexts would be fruitful. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).
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Toma de Decisiones , Negociación , Humanos , CulpaRESUMEN
A psycholegal research agenda on guilty pleas is in its nascent stage. Multijurisdictional surveys of related law and policy may advance this research agenda by focusing investigators on the specifics of existing policies and motivating cross-jurisdictional comparisons of diverse policies. We thus conducted a systematic, national survey of statutes, regulations and court rules across the United States pertaining to nine aspects of the guilty plea process, including sentencing differentials, collateral consequences and waiver of rights, which have been identified in existing legal and psycholegal research and commentary. Following a discussion of these issues, including legal concerns and existing research findings, we present the results of our systematic survey. We supplement this review with a non-systematic sampling of appellate case law. Broadly, there was notable diversity in whether and how jurisdictions approached these issues. We discuss general and specific implications of our findings for future research, emphasizing the importance of data on actual policies and procedures to the design of studies that may contribute to evidence-based criminal justice policy.
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Derecho Penal , Culpa , Derecho Penal/legislación & jurisprudencia , Humanos , Encuestas y Cuestionarios , Estados UnidosRESUMEN
Every day, thousands of defendants, prosecutors, and defense attorneys must make guilty plea decisions, such as whether to accept a plea offer or proceed to trial. Most defendants opt to plead guilty; approximately 95% of state and federal convictions result from guilty pleas. In light of a newly emerging body of research and recent Supreme Court decisions on guilty pleas, this article asks and answers 2 questions: First, who pleads guilty and why? We describe the characteristics of those who are more or less likely to plead guilty, and examine the reasons why individuals plead guilty instead of proceeding to trial, exploring the cognitive, social influence, and developmental factors that underlie decision making. Second, are defendants' plea decisions valid, in that the decisions are made knowingly, intelligently, voluntarily, and with a factual basis of guilt? That is, do defendants who plead guilty understand and appreciate the conditions and consequences of their pleas, as required by law? Are innocent people induced to plead guilty to crimes they did not commit? We conclude with suggestions to move the field of plea research forward. (PsycINFO Database Record
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Comprensión , Crimen/psicología , Derecho Penal/legislación & jurisprudencia , Toma de Decisiones , Culpa , Humanos , Decisiones de la Corte Suprema , Estados UnidosRESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Community re-entry from custody programmes facilitate access to community resources, such as cash assistance and food stamps, with the aim of reducing criminal recidivism. Evidence that these programmes achieve is mainly from longer-term prisoners rather than short-term jail inmates. AIM: The aim of the study is to test the hypothesis that facilitating access to community resources while still in jail would reduce re-arrest rates among former jail inmates in the USA. METHODS: Community resources offered to the jail inmates participating in this study included Medicaid, food stamps and cash assistance. Participants who opted to sign up for these social services were matched with non-applicants based on date of release (n = 101). Each participant's criminal history was coded prior to release from the jail and at three months, six months and one year after release. RESULTS: Contrary to our original hypotheses, recidivism was not significantly reduced in the applicant group. People released after facilitated access to community assistance had an increase in drug offence severity at six months after release. Recidivism also differed by age and race. CONCLUSION: The substance offences in the applicant group suggested that cash benefits provided the released offender with the means to sustain their substance misuse. Treatment for substance misuse should be incorporated with other resources in order to reduce recidivism effectively. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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Criminales/psicología , Financiación Gubernamental , Prisioneros/psicología , Evaluación de Programas y Proyectos de Salud , Bienestar Social , Adulto , Femenino , Programas de Gobierno , Humanos , Masculino , Prisiones , Servicio SocialRESUMEN
Research on racism in the criminal justice system generally focuses on the role of the jury; yet, the vast majority of convictions are obtained through plea bargains. This research addresses the role of the defense attorney and proposes that disparities in sentence length and incarceration rates between African Americans and Caucasian Americans are in part due to the plea bargains that defense attorneys recommend these clients accept. Using practicing defense attorneys from around the country, findings indicate that the pleas attorneys felt they could obtain with a minority client contained higher sentences (adjusted M = 2.88) than those they felt they could obtain with a Caucasian client (adjusted M = 2.22) and were significantly more likely to include some jail time. Reasons for the disparate recommendations were not due to increased perceptions of guilt with the minority client nor to perceptions that the minority client would fare worse at trial. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed as well as possible future directions.