On the Impact of Precision in Sentencing Recommendations on Appeal Rates in Plea Cases

Abstract

With the continuous development and improvement of the leniency system for guilty pleas and penalties in China, the study of sentencing recommendations within the system, which closely connects the prosecution, the defense and the trial, has also been continuously emphasized. From the development trend, determining the sentence is the main form of sentencing advice in the future. Moreover, precise sentencing recommendations will ultimately affect the appeal rate by influencing the prosecuted party, the trial party and the criminal process itself. Theoretically, the more precise a sentencing recommendation is, the more likely it is to be inconsistent with the final verdict and thus cause an appeal. However, in practice, through the research methodology of computational social science and the collection and collation of relevant data, it has been concluded that, under the same conditions, accurate sentencing recommendations are effective in reducing the appeal rate in guilty plea cases.