Demystifying the Plea Process: Investigating Attorney Communications and Client Misconceptions

As the United States has shifted to “a system of pleas,” the role of defense attorneys has swung from trial litigator to plea negotiator. To further investigate how this shift has impacted defense attorneys, we surveyed a nationwide sample (N = 134) to assess the duration and frequency of client meetings, information clients frequently lack and misconceptions they espouse concerning the plea and trial process, and how attorneys convey advice to accept or reject plea offers to clients. The results indicated that defense attorneys spend a significant amount of time meeting with clients (an average of 5.7 meetings for an average of 44.9 minutes). They also cited substantial deficits in criminal defendants’ knowledge of the legal system, as well as many misconceptions regarding legal procedures. Attorneys provided a diversity of responses regarding the most important advice they offer their clients with many mentioning facts related to the case resolution process (56.0%), the direct and collateral consequences associated with a criminal conviction (29.4%), the role of the defense attorney (32.1%), and the importance of the right to silence (24.8%). Further, over half of the attorneys surveyed indicated a general hesitance (54.0%) and others an outright refusal (15.0%) to provide an explicit plea recommendation to their clients. In sum, these findings provide valuable insight into the challenges faced by defense attorneys who must be adviser, negotiator, and apparently, educator. Further, many appear to draw a sharp line between counseling their clients and moving them to a decision.