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Impact of Procedural Modifications on Evaluations of Plea Bargaining

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 July 2024

Pauline Houlden
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Abstract

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An experiment was conducted to assess the preferences of undergraduates and inmates for two possible modifications of plea bargaining: allowing the defendant to participate and including a state-paid or community-volunteer mediator in the negotiation. Respondents were asked to role-play a defendant who was either innocent or guilty of a murder and confronted with either weak or strong state's evidence. Results indicate that all defendants preferred plea bargaining procedures which included the defendant. Undergraduates preferred procedures which involved a mediator, but inmates were neutral toward this modification. Undergraduates preferred a state-paid mediator, while inmates preferred a community volunteer. Several interactions qualifying these effects are discussed in the paper.

Type
Research Article
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 15 , Issue 2 , 1981 , pp. 267 - 291
Copyright
Copyright © 1981 The Law and Society Association

Footnotes

*

I would like to thank Bill Weber, Assistant Director of the Alachua County (Florida) Adult Detention Center, the staff, and those inmates who participated in this study, for their encouragement, support, and assistance in conducting this research. I am also grateful to Cathy Bowles, Sally Winter, and Ralph Mangione for their work as experimenters. Special thanks are due to Stephen A. LaTour, who provided invaluable assistance during every stage of this study.

This research was conducted while the author was an Assistant Professor of Psychology and Criminal Justice at the University of Florida. Portions of the study were presented at the 1979 American Psychological Association Convention in New York. Reprints may be obtained from the author at the Department of Criminal Justice, University of Illinois at Chicago Circle, Box 4348, Chicago, Illinois, 60680.

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