The Guilty Plea Problem is a panel discussion hosted by the KY Innocence Project. This event is open the public.

The discussion will focus on the ways in which the KY criminal justice system’s reliance on plea deals perpetuates wrongful convictions. The discussion will be subdivided into four portions:

1) how KY’s low trial rate/heavy reliance on plea deals can result in convicting innocent people.

2) how it is exacerbated by closed discovery which prevents informed plea decisions.

3) how the innocent are unable to exonerate themselves post-conviction because of the plea bar on DNA testing.

4) and how all of this is intimately connected with an egregious lack of resources for public defenders.