Editing Plea (section)

==Types of plea==
The most common types of plea are "'''guilty'''" and "'''not guilty'''".

In some legal systems pleading guilty can result in a more lenient punishment for the defendant; it is thus a type of [[mitigating factor]] in sentencing.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/explanatory-material/magistrates-court/item/aggravating-and-mitigating-factors/| title = Sentencing Council}}</ref> While in some other legal systems pleading guilty instead can result in a harsher punishment. In a [[plea bargain]], a defendant makes a deal with the prosecution or court to plead guilty in exchange for a more lenient punishment, or for related charges against them to be dropped. A "'''blind plea'''" is a guilty plea entered with no plea agreement in place.<ref>{{cite journal |title=The Ethics of Cause Lawyering: An Empirical Examination of Criminal Defense Lawyers as Cause Lawyers |first=Margareth |last=Etienne |journal=The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology |volume=95 |issue=4 |date=Summer 2005 |pages=1195–1260 |jstor=3491403 |url=http://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=7208&context=jclc}}</ref> Plea bargains are particularly common in the United States.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Plea Bargaining and Its History |first=Albert W. |last=Alschuler |journal=[[Columbia Law Review|Colum. L. Rev.]] |year=1979 |volume=79 |issue=1 |pages=1–43 |doi=10.2307/1122051 |jstor=1122051|url=https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/journal_articles/1006 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> Other countries use a more limited form of plea bargaining. In the United Kingdom and Germany, guidelines state that only the timing of the guilty plea can affect the reduction in the punishment, with an earlier plea resulting in a greater reduction.

In the United States, a ''[[nolo contendere]]'' ('''no contest''') plea is when the defendant submits a plea that neither admits nor denies the offense. It has the same immediate effect as a guilty plea because the trial avoids determining the defendant's guilt.

===Peremptory pleas===
{{Main|Peremptory plea}}

These pleas claim that a case cannot proceed for some reason. They are so-called because, rather than being an answer to the question of guilt or innocence, they are a claim that the matter of guilt or innocence should not be considered.

They are:
*'''''autrefois convict''''' (or '''''autrefois''''' '''''acquit''''') – where under the doctrine of [[double jeopardy]], the accused has been previously convicted or acquitted of the same charge and hence cannot be tried again.
*plea of pardon – where the accused has been [[Pardon|pardoned]] for the offense.