Behavioral Economics in Plea-Bargain Decision-Making: Beyond the Shadow-of-Trial Model

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren Clatch ◽  
Eugene Borgida
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Behavioral Economics ◽  
Theoretical Foundation ◽  
Plea Bargaining ◽  
Psychological Processes ◽  
Plea Bargain ◽  
Decision Context ◽  
Psychological Science ◽  
Criminal Charge ◽  
Key Features

Abstract Legal scholars have long assumed that plea bargains are contracts negotiated between rational actors who adhere to the dictates of the normative shadow-of-trial model. The two key features that rational actors presumably haggle over in the shadow of trial are the criminal charge (and associated sentence) and the probability of trial conviction. The behavioral economics theory of discounting, however, offers a theoretical foundation for testing the shadow-of-trial model. This article summarizes findings from experimental discounting studies in behavioral economics and psychological science – showing that these paradigms can be successfully applied to the plea-bargaining decision context wherein the likelihood of trial is uncertain and delayed, and the plea bargain is relatively certain and immediate. We suggest that the implications of applying discounting to plea bargaining are three-fold: (1) empirical evidence suggests that the shadow-of-trial model is too narrow; (2) the discounting of non-monetary losses may involve slightly different psychological processes than contexts involving monetary outcomes; and (3) probability of conviction and delay until trial constitute situational features that elicit guilty pleas despite a defendant’s factual innocence.

Defense Attorneys and Plea Bargains

2019 ◽  
pp. 37-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelsey S. Henderson
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Supreme Court ◽  
Plea Bargaining ◽  
Psychological Processes ◽  
Defense Attorneys ◽  
Adversarial System ◽  
Federal Standard ◽  
Extralegal Factors ◽  
The U.S

In the landmark Gideon v. Wainwright decision (1963), the U.S. Supreme Court established the federal standard of appointed counsel for indigent defendants as fundamental to fairness. This right has been upheld throughout the years and is central to our adversarial system. The attorney’s responsibility is to zealously serve as the accused’s strongest counselor and advocate. In the context of plea bargaining, the attorney can assist the defendant in making a voluntary, knowing, and intelligent plea decision. The attorney may act as a “debiaser,” counteracting irrationality on the defendant’s part. However, research suggests structural influences and psychological processes may impede the role of the attorney. This chapter explores how legal and extralegal factors affect attorneys’ plea decision-making, which ultimately influence defendants’ decisions to waive or invoke their right to trial.

Developing a Systematic Decision-Making Framework: Bureaucratic Politics in Perspective

1981 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 234-252 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerel A. Rosati
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Executive Branch ◽  
Bureaucratic Politics ◽  
Theory Building ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Decision Context ◽  
Policy Application ◽  
Decision Making Framework ◽  
Decision Making Behavior

The bureaucratic politics model has achieved great popularity in the study of decision making. Yet too often the term “bureaucratic politics” is used by scholars and practitioners without clearly stating its policy application. The decision-making behavior that occurred during the Johnson and Nixon administrations for SALT I serves to illustrate many of the limits of the model. First, the decision-making structure posited by the bureaucratic politics model is not nearly as prevalent within the executive branch as is commonly assumed. Second, even where the bureaucratic politics structure is present, the decision-making process is not always one of bargaining, compromise, and consensus. Finally, the decision context and the decision participants are ignored in the model. To provide a clearer understanding of policy-making behavior, a more systematic decision-making framework is offered, which should contribute to the development of better model- and theory-building.

An Undergraduate Course in Psychology and the Law

1987 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 238-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edith Greene ◽  
Edith Greene
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Dispute Resolution ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
Alternative Dispute Resolution ◽  
Civil Law ◽  
Plea Bargaining ◽  
Jury Decision Making ◽  
Teaching Aids ◽  
The Law ◽  
Jury Decision

This article describes a course that bridged the disciplines of clinical and experimental psychology and the law. The course included discussion of issues in criminal law, such as the psychology of policing, the reliability of confessions, victimization, plea bargaining, jury decision making, and alternative dispute resolution, and in civil law, such as civil commitment, predicting dangerousness, and child custody. Course objectives, requirements, and teaching aids are outlined, and some thoughts on integrating these diverse topics are included.

scholarly journals Process and Content in Decisions from Memory

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenjia Joyce Zhao ◽  
Russell Richie ◽  
Sudeep Bhatia
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Ethical Decision Making ◽  
Memory Search ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Quantitative Model ◽  
Decision Processes ◽  
Language Models ◽  
Choice Data ◽  
Model Driven ◽  
Decision Context

Information stored in memory influences the formation of preferences and beliefs in most everyday decision tasks. The richness of this information, and the complexity inherent in interacting memory and decision processes, makes the quantitative model-driven analysis of such decisions very difficult. In this paper we present a general framework that is capable of addressing the theoretical and methodological barriers to building formal models of naturalistic memory-based decision making. Our framework implements established theories of memory search and decision making within a single integrated cognitive system, and uses computational language models to quantify the thoughts over which memory and decision processes operate. It can thus describe both the content of the information that is sampled from memory, as well as the processes involved in retrieving and evaluating this information in order to make a decision. Furthermore, our framework is tractable, and the parameters that characterize memory-based decisions can be recovered using thought-listing and choice data from existing experimental tasks, and in turn be used to make quantitative predictions regarding choice probability, length of deliberation, retrieved thoughts, and the effects of decision context. We showcase the power and generality of our framework by applying it to study risk perception, consumer behavior, financial decision making, ethical decision making, legal decision making, food choice, and judgments about well-being, society and culture.

scholarly journals The Behavioral Aspect of Economic Growth

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (523) ◽  
pp. 13-18
Author(s):  
T. M. Panevnyk ◽  
◽  
N. K. Bolgarova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
Behavioral Economics ◽  
Significant Influence ◽  
Analytical Models ◽  
Behavioral Factors ◽  
Global Competitiveness ◽  
Behavioral Aspect ◽  
Quality Of Life Index

The article discusses the essence and significance of behavioral economics. The need to take into account the instrumentarium of behavioral economy in the process of solving socio-economic problems is substantiated. The macroeconomic indicators of development of Ukrainian economy are analyzed. Ukraine’s place in the world ranking in terms of GDP per capita is considered. The integrated assessment of the overall economic activity of the country using the Global Competitiveness Index (IGC), the Human Development Index (HDI), and the index of Quality of Life Index by Country are carried out. International comparison of economic growth indicators is highlighted. The dynamics of total income, expenses, savings of the population are analyzed and the significant influence of behavioral factors on decision-making in this sphere is identified, their relationship at both micro and macro levels is disclosed. A significant influence of behavioral factors on decision-making on consumption, expenses and savings is identified, their importance in crisis situations is emphasized. It is proved that the behavioral aspect of economic growth involves not just the inclusion of psychological factors in the classical analytical models, but a combination of microeconomic components with macroeconomic ones. The need to expand the analysis of economic development based on taking into account the behavioral aspect as the driving force of economic development is substantiated. It is noted that the instruments of behavioral economics should be used in the process of developing and conducting socio-economic policy. It is defined that the behavioral economy is one of the instruments that strengthens the possibilities of effective decision-making by the actors together with their impact on socio-economic processes.

scholarly journals Take the plea: the factors that influence innocent individuals to accept plea bargains

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lesley Zannella
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Plea Bargaining ◽  
Plea Bargain ◽  
Fantasy Proneness ◽  
Wrongful Convictions ◽  
Guilty Plea ◽  
Problem Solving Task

Recently, plea bargaining has emerged as a factor that contributes to wrongful convictions. When a Crown offers a reduced sentence or lesser charge to a defendant in exchange for a guilty plea, there is the potential for innocent defendants to plead guilty. However, little is known about the factors that are influencing innocent defendants to accept plea bargains. The current study aimed to investigate the role of false evidence, risk, and modality on an innocent participant’s likelihood of accepting or rejecting a plea bargain. In a laboratory, innocent participants (N = 174) were accused of collaborating with another participant (confederate) on a problem solving task, and offered a plea bargain. Results showed that when participants were told there was an 80% chance of sanctions if they rejected the plea, they were more likely to admit guilt, and accept the plea. Additionally, participants who were high in compliance, high in fantasy proneness, or were younger, were more likely to accept the plea bargain. Implications of these findings for innocent defendants are discussed.

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