Does It Pay to Plead Guilty? Differential Sentencing and the Functioning of Criminal Courts

摘要: Do defendants who plead guilty receive lighter sentences than those with similar charges and attributes exercise their right to trial? The assertion that they do has long been at the heart of literature describing explaining plea-bargaining process, though it questioned in some important work published recently. existence sentence differentials is particularly hard document statistically, because a successfully operating policy punishing go trial will fact minimize number cases which sanction for be imposed. Examination data from three California counties, as well consideration various theoretical concerns, leads us argue are likely characterize jurisdictions whose disposition patterns based on inducing most guilty.