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"Anchors Away: Why the Anchoring Effect Suggests that Judges Should Be Able to Participate in Plea Discussions"

By Douglas A. Berman

The title of this post is the title of this new article available via SSRN from Professor Colin Miller.  Here is the abstract: The ?anchoring effect? is cognitive bias by which people evaluate numbers by focusing on a reference point ? an anchor ? and adjusting up or down from that anchor.  Unfortunately, people usually do not sufficiently adjust away from their anchors, so the initial choice of anchors has an inordinate effect on their final estimates.  More than 90% of all criminal cases are resolved by plea bargains. In the vast majority of those cases, the prosecutor makes the initial plea offer, and prosecutors often make high initial offers.  Assuming that the prosecutor?s opening offer operates as an anchor, nearly all criminal cases in this country produce unjust results based upon an unconscious cognitive bias...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on September 06, 2010 (boomark / email).