The mark of a felony conviction: How does the threat of a felony influence willingness to accept a plea?

Objectives: Investigate how the threat of a possible felony conviction affects defendants’ willingness to accept a plea (WTAP) and whether perceptions of collateral consequences explain this influence. Methods: We use a nationwide (N=659) vignette experiment which manipulated 1) guilt and 2) plea offer charge reduction (felony or misdemeanor) to determine their effect on WTAP. Respondents were also asked to rank the relative importance of common collateral consequences in their decision to plea (or not). Results: A felony probation plea offer, relative to a misdemeanor probation offer, was associated with lower WTAP. Perceptions of collateral consequences did not account for this “felony effect” on WTAP. Conclusions: While people want to avoid the “mark” of a felony conviction, it is not necessarily due to fear of specific collateral consequences; instead, it appears that people want to avoid the stigmatizing label.