Background Most criminal convictions are a result of guilty pleas. Concerns have been raised that large differentials between plea and potential trial sentences can be coercive to some defendants, especially when the threat of potential trial sentence is very large. The limited research, to date, suggests that the likelihood of pleading guilty goes up with increasing size of potential trial sentence. However, existing studies have failed to separate the effects of trial sentence and plea discount; as a result, in almost all studies, large potential trial sentences are paired with large discounts and small trial sentences with small discounts, making it difficult to know how the threat of trial sentence actually affects defendant decisions. Method In this study, we examined the effects of guilt, magnitude of potential trial sentence (5 years and 25 years), and size of plea discount (20%, 50%, and 75%) in a fully crossed, between‐subjects design, with acceptance of plea offer as the dependent variable. Results We found that potential trial sentence and plea discount had independent and opposite effects on plea decisions, with discount carrying the most weight. Specifically, participants accepted more plea offers in higher relative to lower discount conditions and when potential trial sentence was 5 years rather than 25 years. The pattern of effects was similar for participants in guilty and innocent conditions. Implications Our results run somewhat counter to conventional wisdom on how discount and potential trial sentence affect plea decisions and suggest that, given similar discounts, the likelihood for pleading guilty may be higher for defendants facing less serious charges that carry less severe sentences. We discuss the policy and research implications of these data.

No abstract

Background: The peptidyl-proline isomerase, Protein Never in Mitosis Gene A Interacting-1 (PIN1), regulates turnover of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) in murine aortic endothelial cells (MAEC) stimulated with E. coli endotoxin (LPS) and interferon-γ (IFN). Degradation of iNOS was reduced by a calpain inhibitor, suggesting that PIN1 may affect induction of other calpain-sensitive inflammatory proteins, such as cyclooxygenase (COX)-2, in MAEC.

In the present study, a small library of bisphenol Z (BPZ) derivatives was synthesized and investigated for anti-proliferative effects in cultured breast and glioblastoma cell lines. Synthesized BPZ derivatives varied in molecular size, polarity, and lipophilicity. Of the 8 derivatives tested, compounds 4 and 6, both of which displayed the highest degree of lipophilicity, were most active at inducing cell death as determined by the XTT assay. Cell membranes were interrogated using trypan blue staining and were shown to remain intact during treatments with 4 and 6. Activation of caspase enzymes (3 and/or 7) was noted to occur following treatment with compound 4.Polar BPZ derivatives, those with a substituted amine or alcohol, were devoid of any inhibitory or proliferative effects. The remaining derivatives seem to lack sufficient lipophilicity to execute an overt toxic effect. Our results suggest that increasing the lipophilic character of BPZ enhances the cytotoxic effects. K E Y W O R D Sapoptosis, bisphenol Z, cytotoxicity, derivative synthesis, XTT | 1575 STITZLEIN ET aL.