OBJECTIVE The Alford plea allows defendants to maintain innocence while pleading guilty, but this option is largely unknown to the public, and its effects are unknown to researchers and practitioners. Some legal scholars have argued that the Alford plea may attract innocent defendants who may not otherwise accept a plea, whereas others have asserted that it offers a beneficial alternative for those wanting to preserve their reputations and avoid the more severe consequences of a trial conviction. Applying a social psychological lens, we examined how the Alford plea influences innocent and guilty mock defendants' plea decision making. HYPOTHESES We predicted that whereas guilty mock defendants would be more likely to accept a plea overall, the Alford variant would increase the rate at which innocent mock defendants accept pleas. METHOD We conducted two studies: In Study 1, 406 Prolific Academic participants read a vignette in which they were either innocent or guilty of involuntary manslaughter; in Study 2, we used an interactive simulation of legal procedures in which 367 innocent Testable Minds participants were accused of larceny. In both studies, participants were offered either a traditional plea requiring them to admit guilt or an Alford plea allowing them to maintain innocence. RESULTS As predicted, we found that guilty participants were more likely to accept a plea overall in Study 1 (OR = 10.16, 95% CI [6.38, 16.19]), but we did not observe an effect of Alford. In Study 2, innocent participants who rejected an initial plea were more likely to accept a second plea (OR = 3.61, 95% CI [1.28, 10.20]) if it was an Alford (and allowed them to maintain innocence). Additionally, many participants in both studies cited self-presentation-related reasons for their plea decisions. CONCLUSION Our findings suggest that the Alford plea may increase the risk of false guilty pleas, a finding that has important implications for criminal defendants and the attorneys who advise them. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

中文翻译：

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奥尔福德的心理诱惑：想要显得无辜会让无辜的人处于危险之中吗？

目的 奥尔福德认罪允许被告在认罪时保持清白，但这种选择在很大程度上不为公众所知，其影响也不为研究人员和从业者所知。一些法律学者认为，奥尔福德的认罪可能会吸引无辜的被告，他们可能不会接受认罪，而另一些人则断言，它为那些想要维护声誉并避免审判定罪的更严重后果的人提供了一个有益的选择。应用社会心理学的视角，我们研究了 Alford 认罪如何影响无辜和有罪的模拟被告的认罪决定。假设 我们预测，虽然有罪的模拟被告总体上更有可能接受认罪，但 Alford 变体将增加无辜的模拟被告接受认罪的比率。方法 我们进行了两项研究：在研究 1 中，406 名多产的学术参与者阅读了一个小插曲，其中他们要么是无辜的，要么犯有非自愿过失杀人罪;在研究 2 中，我们使用了法律程序的交互式模拟，其中 367 名无辜的 Testable Minds 参与者被指控犯有盗窃罪。在这两项研究中，参与者要么被要求承认有罪的传统认罪，要么被允许他们保持无罪的奥尔福德认罪。结果正如预测的那样，我们发现在研究 1 中，有罪的参与者总体上更有可能接受认罪 （OR = 10.16， 95% CI [6.38， 16.19]），但我们没有观察到 Alford 的效果。在研究 2 中，拒绝最初认罪的无辜参与者更有可能接受第二次认罪（OR = 3.61， 95% CI [1.28， 10.20]），如果这是 Alford（并允许他们保持清白）。 此外，这两项研究的许多参与者都引用了与自我陈述相关的原因来做出认罪决定。结论 我们的研究结果表明，Alford 认罪可能会增加虚假认罪的风险，这一发现对刑事被告和为他们提供建议的律师具有重要意义。（PsycInfo 数据库记录 （c） 2025 APA，保留所有权利）。