ABSTRACT
In tr o d u c t io n A lm ost all crim inal defendants plead guilty, and alm ost all o f them do
so because they are guilty. The ones who take their cases to trial are also overwhelm ingly guilty, at least in the sense that there is no issue about w hether they com m itted the charged acts. The relatively few felony cases that actually go to trial in Am erica are typically about m oral guilt, not fac tual guilt. That is, they are about the level o f the defendant’s culpability and therefore the level o f the crime o f which he will be convicted .1
