Race and the Probability of Pleading Guilty

This article presents a study on the relationship between race and the likelihood of pleading guilty. It begins with a discussion of past research analyzing the impact of a number of different variables on guilty pleas. The data used in this study come from felony cases processed in Norfolk, Virginia, between 1977 and 1978. In addition to analyzing race, the authors included variables such as type of counsel, physical evidence, number of witnesses, confessing to a crime, use of a weapon, and offense severity. Controlling for these variables, the findings indicated that Black defendants were less likely to plead guilty. The article concludes with a discussion of the competing explanations for these findings, including less confidence in the bargaining system, ability of counsel to negotiate a settlement, perceptions of injustice, and distrust of the process and overall criminal justice system.

“These data suggest that, controlling for offense severity, prior record, presence of physical evidence, eyewitness identification, pretrial release, type of counsel, and whether the defendant confessed, black defendants are less willing to accept the seemingly routine process of case disposition through a guilty plea.” p. 329