Factors Contributing to Guilty Plea Wrongful Convictions

A Quantitative Analysis of Australian Appellate Court Judgments

Dados Bibliográficos

ID21309201
AutoresCaitlin Nash (0000-0003-0938-5528, Griffith University, Brisbane, QLD, Australia, autor correspondente), Rachel Dioso‐villa (0000-0002-9909-5091, Griffith University), Rachel Dioso-Villa (Griffith University, Brisbane, QLD, Australia), Louise Porter (0000-0003-4687-518X, Griffith University, Brisbane, QLD, Australia)
Ano2024
Volume70
Fascículo2
Páginas441-465
Data de publicação2024-02-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoCrime & Delinquency (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0011-1287 • E-ISSN: 1552-387X
EditoraSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/00111287211054723
OpenAlexW3213014755
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas5
Referências citadas27

Criminal defendants can face significant pressures to plead guilty, but wrongful conviction scholarship has largely overlooked the study of guilty pleas. This study content analyzed 139 Australian appellate court judgments in which a guilty plea conviction was overturned, investigating the types of errors involved in these convictions, and the stage of the criminal justice process at which the errors occurred. The findings revealed that errors occurred during the police investigation, pretrial preparations, and formal court procedures, with the most frequent errors involving incorrect or inappropriate charges, inadequate legal representation, and the courts erroneously accepting a guilty plea. The findings raise important implications regarding the adequacy of safeguards to ensure guilty pleas are appropriate or factually and legally accurate

Conviction · Criminal justice · Criminal procedure · Criminology · Innocence · Plea · Political science · Scholarship · Criminal Law and Evidence · Judicial and Constitutional Studies · Law · Law, Economics, and Judicial Systems · Psychology