Report No. 142

3.9. Assumption that ordinarily the innocent would not plead guilty.-

The Supreme Court of the United States has explicitly approved the practise mainly on the assumption that defendants who are convicted on the basis of negotiated pleas of guilt would ordinarily have been convicted had they elected to stand trial. The principle consists of the promise of reduction of charge from the one levelled against a defendant to a less serious charge or of sympathetic treatment in sentencing.

For the accused what is important is saving of expenses (legal and otherwise) and the desire to start a new life after suffering the agreed sentence as early as possible and also to avoid detention pending the trial. In most cases some or all the considerations indicated hereinbefore that induced pleas of guilty.