To Plead or Not to Plead: A Comparison of Juvenile and Adult True and False Plea Decisions

This article contains a study analyzing the relationship between age and plea decisions. The piece primarily focuses on how age, guilt and innocence, and plea comprehension relate to the decision to plead guilty and the reasons behind that plea. The study showed that age was a factor in juveniles’ decision to plead guilty only when asked to assume innocence, rather than guilt. Additionally, juveniles were less likely to consider the consequences of their plea decision and plea-related information. The article concludes with a discussion on the implications of these results in the realm of plea-bargaining and wrongful convictions.

“Given the extremely high rate of convictions via pleas in our criminal justice system, and the increasing identification of wrongful convictions, it is important for researchers and practitioners to better understand the complexities of the guilty plea decision among juvenile and adult defendants.”  p. 623