plea of guilty
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 368 U.S. 487 - MacHibroda v. United States · 1962Most cited · 3,638 citing opinions
A plea of guilty differs in purpose and effect from a mere admission or an extrajudicial confession; it is itself a conviction. Like a verdict of a jury it is conclusive. More is not required; the court has nothing to do but give judgment and sentence. Out of just consideration for persons accused of crime, courts are careful that a plea of guilty shall not be accepted unless made voluntarily after proper advice and with full understanding of the consequences.
How often courts cite the cases defining “plea of guilty”
Court decisions citing the 2 opinions that defined “plea of guilty” — 6,297 in all, by decade. Counts are citations to the defining cases as a whole, not verified uses of the term. The dip in the most recent years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the latest years.
All 2 definitions, chronological · 1927–1962
- ORIGINAL
A plea of guilty differs in purpose and effect from a mere admission or an extrajudicial confession; it is itself a conviction. Like a verdict of a jury it is conclusive. More is not required; the court has nothing to do but give judgment and sentence.