Cornell Law Review Volume 88 Article 3 Issue 5 July 2003 Harmonizing Substantive-Criminal-Law Values and Criminal Procedure: The aC se of Alford and Nolo Contendere Pleas Stephanos Bibas Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.law.cornell.edu/clr Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Stephanos Bibas, Harmonizing Substantive-Criminal-Law Values and Criminal Procedure: The Case of Alford and Nolo Contendere Pleas, 88 Cornell L. Rev. 1361 (2003) Available at: http://scholarship.law.cornell.edu/clr/vol88/iss5/3 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at Scholarship@Cornell Law: A Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Cornell Law Review by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Cornell Law: A Digital Repository. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. HARMONIZING SUBSTANTIVE-CRIMINAL-LAW VALUES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE: THE CASE OF ALFORD AND NOLO CONTENDERE PLEASt Stephanos Bibastt Criminal procedure is preoccupied with procedural values such as effi- ciency, accuracy, informed choice, and proceduralfairness. This emphasis comes at the expense of the values of criminalprocedure's sibling, substantive criminal law. This Article examines Alford and nolo contendere pleas as case studies in how an obsession with these procedural values blinds courts and scholars to substantive values. Defendants can in effect plead guilty by entering Alford and nolo contendere pleas, even if they protest their inno- cence or refuse to admit guilt. These pleas risk not only convicting innocent defendants, but also impeding the reform, education, and condemnation of guilty defendants. Moreover, these pleas leave psychological denial mecha- nisms in place, especially in the case of sex offenders.