Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-2020

Abstract

In Bargained Justice: The Rise of False Testimony for False Pleas, Andrew M. Pardieck, Vanessa A. Edkins, and Lucian E. Dervan examine the empirical foundations of plea bargaining in the United States and its global expansion to jurisdictions such as Japan and South Korea Challenging the longstanding assumption that innocent individuals do not plead guilty absent overt coercion, the authors conduct cross-cultural laboratory experiments to test whether the innocent will falsely plead guilty and falsely implicate others in exchange for leniency. Building on prior research demonstrating high rates of false guilty pleas among innocent participants, the study extends the inquiry internationally and documents not only substantial false plea rates across all three countries, but also the novel and troubling phenomenon of false testimony offered to secure plea benefits. The findings suggest that basic human decision-making under risk—particularly in the face of sentencing differentials—undermines core assumptions about voluntariness and reliability in negotiated justice systems. As plea bargaining increasingly dominates criminal adjudication worldwide, the authors argue that the risk of wrongful convictions and fabricated testimony is systemic and global, necessitating renewed scrutiny of safeguards and procedural protections in plea-based regimes.

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