Preliminary Study of How Plea Bargaining Decisions by Prosecution and Defense Attorneys are Affected by Eyewitness Factors.

摘要

This preliminary study attempted to assess how appraisals of the strength of eyewitness evidence affect plea bargaining decisions by prosecutors and defense attorneys. A sample of 93 defense attorneys and 46 prosecutors from matched counties in California participated. The attorneys had extensive experience practicing law and trying felony criminal cases in Superior Court. The attorneys were presented four scenarios in which two specific eyewitness factors--(a) same-versus cross-race identification and (b) prior contact or not--were experimentally manipulated in a factorial design. After reading each scenario, they were asked five questions regarding whether they would plea bargain the case, the lowest/highest plea bargain they would offer/accept, and their estimate of the probability that the defendant was guilty and the probability that they would win the case if it went to trial. This study attempted to experimentally assess how these typical decisions regarding plea bargaining are influenced by variations in the strength of two eyewitness factors, and the whether this pattern of results differs for prosecutors versus defense attorneys.