TY - JOUR
T1 - The influence of confessions on guilty pleas and plea discounts
AU - Redlich, Allison D.
AU - Yan, Shi
AU - Norris, Robert J.
AU - Bushway, Shawn D.
N1 - Funding Information:
This project was supported by Award 2009-IJ-CX-0035, awarded by the National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication/program/exhibition are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department of Justice. The archived dataset can be found at http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/ NACJD/studies/34679. A portion of these results were presented at the American Psychology-Law Society conference, Portland, OR, 2013. We thank Rose Bellandi and Megan Kennedy for their invaluable assistance with coding, and to the participating District Attorneys’ Offices.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 American Psychological Association.
PY - 2018/5
Y1 - 2018/5
N2 - The influence on confession evidence in trials is quite strong; triers of fact who hear confession evidence find these self-incriminating statements hard to ignore and in turn, vote to convict more often. However, most cases do not see the inside of a courtroom, but rather are resolved via plea bargains. In the present study, we examined how confessions, whether partial or full, influence guilty plea rates and plea discounts (the difference between sentence received at trial if convicted and sentence received as part of the plea). We coded more than 500 district attorney case files for defendant statement type (i.e., not questioned by police, questioned but denied guilt, questioned and partially confessed, questioned and fully confessed), case disposition (guilty plea, trial, dismissal), and other pertinent information (e.g., initial charges, perceived strength of evidence). We found that whereas those who denied guilt were the least likely to plead guilty, when they did plead, they enjoyed the largest plea discounts. In addition, partial and full confessors were found to be equally likely to plead guilty (both at near-ceiling levels), but partial confessors received the smallest plea discounts by far. Our findings have implications for theories of remorse and punishment, and plea decision-making.
AB - The influence on confession evidence in trials is quite strong; triers of fact who hear confession evidence find these self-incriminating statements hard to ignore and in turn, vote to convict more often. However, most cases do not see the inside of a courtroom, but rather are resolved via plea bargains. In the present study, we examined how confessions, whether partial or full, influence guilty plea rates and plea discounts (the difference between sentence received at trial if convicted and sentence received as part of the plea). We coded more than 500 district attorney case files for defendant statement type (i.e., not questioned by police, questioned but denied guilt, questioned and partially confessed, questioned and fully confessed), case disposition (guilty plea, trial, dismissal), and other pertinent information (e.g., initial charges, perceived strength of evidence). We found that whereas those who denied guilt were the least likely to plead guilty, when they did plead, they enjoyed the largest plea discounts. In addition, partial and full confessors were found to be equally likely to plead guilty (both at near-ceiling levels), but partial confessors received the smallest plea discounts by far. Our findings have implications for theories of remorse and punishment, and plea decision-making.
KW - Confessions
KW - Guilty pleas
KW - Plea discount
KW - Remorse
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U2 - 10.1037/law0000144
DO - 10.1037/law0000144
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85029790281
SN - 1076-8971
VL - 24
SP - 147
EP - 157
JO - Psychology, Public Policy, and Law
JF - Psychology, Public Policy, and Law
IS - 2
ER -