8 - Public Opinion and Sentence Discounts

Summary

This chapter turns its attention to public opinion. A justification given for the sliding scale of sentence discounts for guilty pleas is that encouraging early guilty pleas is in the public interest. Yet extant research on public confidence in the courts and attitudes towards sentencing reveals that the public frequently perceives sentences as being ‘too lenient’. Consequently, while the aim of sentence discounts for guilty pleas is bolstering efficiency and promoting public confidence, they may actually have the adverse effect of reducing sentences that the public already considers too lenient. This chapter begins by examining the role that public opinion plays in sentencing before reviewing existing literature on public confidence in the courts and attitudes towards sentencing. The chapter also reviews the limited literature on public attitudes towards plea bargaining and sentence discounts. It then shows that the public is not supportive of sentence discounts for guilty pleas, especially large sentence reductions.