PSY 256 Exam #2 Review: Plea Bargaining

What are the requirements for a guilty plea?

1.) knowingly

2.) intelligently

3.) voluntarily

Why do people take guilty plea?

- evidence of guilt is so strong

- likelihood of conviction is high

- if convicted, they would face lengthy sentences

Why do innocent people plead guilty?

- everything we talked about this semester

- strength of evidence

Which party has all the power in the plea process?

Prosecutors hold all the power in the plea bargain, however, the defendants have the final say in any decision.

What factors affect prosecutors' plea decisions?

What is the "trial" penalty? Why is this problematic (legally and psychologically)?

The 'trial penalty' refers to the substantial difference between the sentence offered in a plea offer prior to trial versus the sentence a defendant receives after trial.

In what ways can the plea process be improved/reformed?

1.) Seek indictments for charges that yield proportionate sentences

2.) Offer modest discounts for pleas

3.) Judicial review of pleas

4.) Eliminate Money Bail

5.) Make Prosecutors disclose evidence

6.) Diversify the legal system

plea bargain

Agreement between a prosecutor and a defendant that the defendant will plead guilty to a lesser offense to avoid having to stand trial for a more serious offense.

Brady Rule

the prosecutor has a duty to disclose evidence favorable to a defendant

anchoring and adjustment bias

This occurs when individuals are strongly influenced or "anchored" by an initial starting value and when, in subsequent decisions, they do not sufficiently adjust their judgments away from this starting point.

framing effect

the way decisions alternatives are represented (or framed)-- as either gains or losses-- can have a significant impact on a person's choice. Individuals are more willing to take chances when the decision alternatives are presented in terms of gains than in terms of loss.

Heuristics

Mental shortcuts or "rules of thumb" that often lead to a solution (but not always).

authority

people tend to do what authority figure tell them to do (ex: Milgram Shock Experiment)

charge bargaining

In return for the defendant's plea of guilty, the prosecutor allows the defendant to plead guilty to a less serious charge than the one originally filed.

sentence bargaining

a form of plea bargaining in which a prosecutor recommends a reduced sentence in exchange for a guilty plea

fact bargaining

the prosecutor agrees not to challenge the defendant's version of the facts or not to reveal aggravating facts to the judge.

exculpatory

tending to clear from a charge of fault or guilt

overconfidence bias

the tendency to hold an unrealistically optimistic view of the likelihood of a favorable outcome in litigation. It applies to the defendants who believe (incorrectly) that they have a good chance to win at trial, sometimes leading to rejection of reasonable plea offers from prosecutors

self-serving bias

the tendency to interpret and explain information in a way that casts the perceiver in the most favorable manner

temporal discounting

tendency to weigh proximal (immediate) rewards and consequences more heavily than distal (later) rewards and consequences

certain groups more likely to do this:

- youth

- low SES

belief in a just world

A form of defensive attribution wherein people assume that bad things happen to bad people and that good things happen to good people

illusion of transparency

the tendency of individuals to believe that how they feel is much more apparent to others than is really the case

loss aversion

The strong tendency to regard losses as considerably more important than gains of comparable magnitude—and, with this, a tendency to take steps (including risky steps) to avoid possible loss.

The right to trial by jury for criminal cases is provided by state constitutions and which amendment to the U.S. Constitution?

6th

Approximately what percentage of criminal cases are resolved via plea bargain?

95%

In a 2017 review article, Redlich and colleagues identified the cognitive, social, and developmental factors that underlie plea decision making. Which of the following was not one them?

defendant's gender

Which of the following has been cited as a criticism of plea bargaining?

- The assigned sentence is often too lenient

- Innocent defendants might feel compelled to plead guilty because they think that a trial will result in a worse outcome

- Prosecutors exert too much power in the negotiations