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How does an Alford plea allow a defendant to accept a plea bargain without admitting guilt?
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Plea bargaining
A scene of the trials in Salem Village, Massachusetts Bay Colony, hand-colored engraving.
An Alford plea allows a criminal defendant to accept a plea bargain while maintaining their innocence. Under the Alford doctrine, a court may accept a guilty plea from a defendant who refuses to admit guilt, provided that the plea is entered voluntarily and with a full understanding of the consequences.12
For the plea to be valid, the trial judge must determine that there is a sufficient factual basis for the charges. This legal mechanism, established by the 1970 U.S. Supreme Court case North Carolina v. Alford, permits defendants to avoid the risks of a trial and secure a plea agreement even when they do not concede to the underlying criminal conduct.21