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Article
Plea Decision-making: the Influence of Attorney Expertise, Trustworthiness, and Recommendation
Psychology, Crime & Law
  • Kelsey S. Henderson, Portland State University
  • Reveka Shteynberg, California State University - San Bernardino
Document Type
Pre-Print
Publication Date
11-1-2019
Subjects
  • Plea bargaining -- United States,
  • Plea bargaining -- Social aspects -- United States,
  • Crime -- United States -- Social aspects,
  • Criminal defense lawyers -- Decision making
Abstract

Attorney recommendations influence defendant plea decisions; and the degree of influence likely rests on the perceived trustworthiness and level of expertise of the attorney (factors of source credibility). We explored attorney source credibility factors and how these characteristics influence defendants’ plea decision-making. MTurk participants read a hypothetical plea scenario and were asked to imagine themselves as the defendant in a DWI/DUI case making a plea decision; in the scenario, we manipulated the defense attorney’s level of trustworthiness, expertise, and plea recommendation. There was a significant interaction between attorney recommendation and trustworthiness on defendants’ plea decisions; participants who were advised to accept the guilty plea were more likely to plead guilty when the attorney was high in trustworthiness compared to low in trustworthiness. Attorney trustworthiness did not affect plea decisions for defendants advised to reject the guilty plea. Importantly, attorney trustworthiness affected defendants’ decision to follow the attorney’s recommendation and ultimate plea decision (regardless of expertise), and attorney expertise affected defendants’ confidence in their decision (regardless of trustworthiness). Results suggest individual-level characteristics of defense attorneys affect the influence of the attorney and their recommendation, and ultimately defendants’ plea decision-making.

Rights

© 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

PRE-PRINT. This paper is not the copy of record and may not exactly replicate the authoritative document published in the journal; Final version:

http://doi.org/10.1080/1068316X.2019.1696801

DOI
10.1080/1068316X.2019.1696801
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/30935
Citation Information
PREPRINT Henderson, K. S., & Shteynberg, R. V. (2019). Plea decision-making: the influence of attorney expertise, trustworthiness, and recommendation. Psychology, Crime & Law, 1-25.