NCJ Number
127955
Journal
Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice Volume: 6 Issue: 4 Dated: (December 1990) Pages: 226-237
Date Published
1990
Length
11 pages
Annotation
The present study is designed to determine if defendants who stand trial receive harsher penalties, in the form of sentence type (probation versus prison) and of sentence length for those imprisoned, than defendants who plea bargain after adjusting for the effects of other relevant variables.
Abstract
The right to a trial by a jury of one's peers is in the sixth amendment to the Constitution. Approximately 90 percent of all felony criminal defendants across the United States give up their right to a jury trial and plead guilty. They do so because of perceptions that they will be penalized by harsher sentences if they exercise this right of trial by jury. Although based on data from only one jurisdiction, the results of this study indicate that there is a difference attached to mode of case disposition. The study found that judges do distinguish sentences for plea bargains and for trials and that defendants who stand trial are more likely to be incarcerated. The study did not show whether the difference in sentencing is a function of reward or of penalty. 3 tables and 12 references (Author abstract modified)