Juror and community views of the guilty plea sentencing discount: Findings from a national Australian study

4Citations
Citations of this article
6Readers
Mendeley users who have this article in their library.

This article is free to access.

Abstract

A plea of guilty is a long-accepted factor mitigating sentence in many countries, including Australia, although academic debate over the merits and application of the discount is ongoing. This paper presents findings from a national Australian study on public opinion on the guilty plea sentencing discount, with a particular focus on sexual offences. Survey data were drawn from 989 jurors in cases that resulted in a guilty verdict and 450 unempanelled jurors and 306 online respondents who were provided with vignettes based on real cases. A third of the respondents would have supported a discount in their case if the offender had pleaded guilty. In contrast, more than one half of the respondents surveyed, who had received a vignette with a guilty plea scenario, supported an increment in sentence if the offender had gone to trial. There was more support for a discount in cases involving non-sexual violent offences versus sexual offences and adult versus child victims. Where a discount was supported, this most commonly was a reduction in the length of custodial sentence, with online respondents allocating the least generous discounts. Willingness to accept a sentencing discount was predicted by a range of variables including gender, education, punitive attitudes, offence type and offence seriousness. We conclude by considering the implications of our findings for sentencing law and practice.

Cite

CITATION STYLE

APA

Warner, K., Spiranovic, C., Bartels, L., Roberts, L., & Gelb, K. (2022). Juror and community views of the guilty plea sentencing discount: Findings from a national Australian study. Criminology and Criminal Justice, 22(1), 78–96. https://doi.org/10.1177/1748895820956703

Register to see more suggestions

Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.

Already have an account?

Save time finding and organizing research with Mendeley

Sign up for free