10 July 2021
Decision-making and maturity in guilty pleas
Fair Trials International carried out research to examine decision making, plea bargaining and young adult maturity.
Initial Project Outline: Fair Trials will undertake a project to examine how plea bargaining decisions are being made by young adults, propose workable policy solutions to ensure that young adults receive fair treatment, and raise awareness of the vulnerability of this specific group. CPS data from 2016/2017 showed that in the UK 92% of convictions resulted from guilty pleas. There is a heavy reliance on guilty pleas in the justice system due to their popularity as a policy solution to increase the efficiency of the justice system and reduce the ordeal of a trial for victims and witnesses.