What did the Supreme Court decide in Boykin v. Alabama?

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Salem witch trial — Plea bargaining A scene of the trials in Salem Village, Massachusetts Bay Colony, hand-colored engraving.

In the 1969 case Boykin v. Alabama, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the conviction of a defendant who had received five death sentences after pleading guilty to robbery charges.1

The Court determined that the conviction was invalid because the trial judge had failed to ensure that the defendant’s guilty pleas were entered voluntarily and intelligently. As a direct result of this ruling, judges are now required to conduct an on-the-record inquiry to confirm that a defendant’s decision to plead guilty is made voluntarily and with a full understanding of the consequences.1