How does this work in court? Pleading guilty to a case guarantees a sentence. Whereas not guilty allows you a chance to defend yourself. Doesn’t seem like most defendants would plead guilty. Why is this even a thing?
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**ELI5 Answer**: In most cases, admission of guilt is a sign of remorse and is useful to convince justices to give minimal sentences.
However, there are multiple forms of pleading “Not Guilty” that does admit culpability. For example “Not Guilty by Reason of Temporary Insanity”: Here, the defendant is admitting that they physically performed the crime, but were not in the right frame of mind. In those cases, the recommendation can be admission to a psychiatric hospital (basically medical prison, but usually more controlled).
In the U.S., there is also a concept called *Plea of No Contest*. This is like pleading guilty to save the courts time and energy, but preserving your claim of innocence. This is typically an option taken when a lawyer knows that in a lower-court there’s little chance of victory for their client, but a greater chance that an appeal to the higher-court can “throw out” some aspects of the previous trial due to technicalities. Note, if a defendant does plead guilty, they may still appeal, but it takes extraordinary evidence to entertain that appeal (e.g., proof the the defendant was coerced into confessing and thus rendering a guilty plea).
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