Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 6, 2026

Using the Race Model Inequality to Quantify Behavioral Multisensory Integration Effects
Published on: May 10, 2019
Defense attorney plea recommendations and client race: does zealous representation apply equally to all?
1Department of Psychology, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, USA. vedkins@fit.edu
Abstract:
Research on racism in the criminal justice system generally focuses on the role of the jury; yet, the vast majority of convictions are obtained through plea bargains. This research addresses the role of the defense attorney and proposes that disparities in sentence length and incarceration rates between African Americans and Caucasian Americans are in part due to the plea bargains that defense attorneys recommend these clients accept. Using practicing defense attorneys from around the country, findings indicate that the pleas attorneys felt they could obtain with a minority client contained higher sentences (adjusted M = 2.88) than those they felt they could obtain with a Caucasian client (adjusted M = 2.22) and were significantly more likely to include some jail time. Reasons for the disparate recommendations were not due to increased perceptions of guilt with the minority client nor to perceptions that the minority client would fare worse at trial. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed as well as possible future directions.
Related Concept Videos
Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination
Stereotype Content Model
The Representativeness Heuristic
Stereotype Threat and Self-fulfilling Prophecies
Torts II
Fundamental Attribution Error
