Developing a model of guilty plea decision-making: Fuzzy-trace theory, gist, and categorical boundaries.

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.

State of the States: A survey of statutory law, regulations and court rules pertaining to guilty pleas across the United States.

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.

The psychology of defendant plea decision making.

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.

The impact of US Government assistance on recidivism.

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.

Defense attorney plea recommendations and client race: does zealous representation apply equally to all?

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.