A British defendant once protested, "As God, is my judge, I'm innocent." To which a jurist, Lord Birkett, responded, "He isn't. I am; you're not."
Of the five possible pleas of a defendant, guilty is by far the most common. Standing mute, or refusing to plea, and nolo contendere, or accepting guilty punishment but not admitting liability, are less common. The least common plea of all, then, would be the Alford plea.
It's controversial nature, and the fact that the acceptance of the Alford plea is left to the discretion of the court, both contribute to it's lowly status on the "popular plea totum pole."
The Alford plea originated from the Supreme Court case, North Carolina v. Alford (1970). The case notes that, "An individual accused of crime may voluntarily, knowingly, and understandingly consent to the imposition of a prison sentence even if he is unwilling or unable to admit his participation in the acts constituting the crime when a defendant intelligently concludes that his interests require entry of a guilty plea and the record before the judge contains strong evidence of actual guilt"
Of the five possible pleas of a defendant, guilty is by far the most common. Standing mute, or refusing to plea, and nolo contendere, or accepting guilty punishment but not admitting liability, are less common. The least common plea of all, then, would be the Alford plea.
It's controversial nature, and the fact that the acceptance of the Alford plea is left to the discretion of the court, both contribute to it's lowly status on the "popular plea totum pole."
The Alford plea originated from the Supreme Court case, North Carolina v. Alford (1970). The case notes that, "An individual accused of crime may voluntarily, knowingly, and understandingly consent to the imposition of a prison sentence even if he is unwilling or unable to admit his participation in the acts constituting the crime when a defendant intelligently concludes that his interests require entry of a guilty plea and the record before the judge contains strong evidence of actual guilt"
(http://definitions.uslegal.com/a/alford-plea/)
As mentioned in the text, judges are at odds with defendants who use the Alford plea for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the Alford plea allows defendants to maintain their innocence while accepting the reasonable possibility of guilt; however, in many courts, a defendant is expected to admit guilt on the record to be charged with the crime and given punishment. Secondly, and less profoundly, judges just plain-old don't like it.
I too wrestle with the idea of the Alford plea. On the one hand, I can see where the need for justice and the probability of guilt unfairly coincide with an innocent man's actions or behaviors, in which case a defendant who invokes the Alford plea is protected from admitting actual guilt and a more severe punishment. Conversely, I also understand the judge and jury's need for admitted liability before convicting a defendant of guilt. In this case, however, I lean more towards the former than the latter, mostly because I disagree on principle with the stark "guilty" or "not guilty" ideals with which the judge and jury tend to conform.
In this case, as in most, the shades of grey are most important in matters of black and white.
As mentioned in the text, judges are at odds with defendants who use the Alford plea for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the Alford plea allows defendants to maintain their innocence while accepting the reasonable possibility of guilt; however, in many courts, a defendant is expected to admit guilt on the record to be charged with the crime and given punishment. Secondly, and less profoundly, judges just plain-old don't like it.
I too wrestle with the idea of the Alford plea. On the one hand, I can see where the need for justice and the probability of guilt unfairly coincide with an innocent man's actions or behaviors, in which case a defendant who invokes the Alford plea is protected from admitting actual guilt and a more severe punishment. Conversely, I also understand the judge and jury's need for admitted liability before convicting a defendant of guilt. In this case, however, I lean more towards the former than the latter, mostly because I disagree on principle with the stark "guilty" or "not guilty" ideals with which the judge and jury tend to conform.
In this case, as in most, the shades of grey are most important in matters of black and white.
This was an intriguing post, but it was fairly minimal. It was just over the Alford plea. Even still, it didn't go into much depth. Writing needs improvement. First few lines added complexity when it wasn't necessarily. Additionally, "It's" means "it is". . . "its" is a possessive.
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