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The plea of accused persons, whether guilty or not, forms a central part of the legal process. Such a decision must exclusively rest with the accused person and be devoid of judicial and extrajudicial influence. This study seeks to interrogate the contexts within which accused persons determine their plea in court. It is argued that all the forms of plea are employed by accused persons as a means of navigating the sentencing outcomes of their cases. The study used a mixed-methods approach to data gathering and analysis. The respondents explained their guilty plea within the context of leniency, the expedition of cases, and to avoid prison remand. Those who pleaded not guilty largely thought of it within the context of identifying a legal loophole and having the opportunity to appeal their sentence after conviction. The extent to which the police influenced the accused to plead guilty requires further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on the forgiveness of self has largely focused on less severe, more common types of offenses among samples within developed westernized nations. In this brief report of a study within a developing nation in Africa, applications of self-forgiveness are extended to incarcerated people. The sample comprised N = 310 males (83.87%) and females (16.13%) who were incarcerated in a medium-security Ghanaian prison (Mage = 39.35, SDage = 13.28). Participants completed measures of self-forgiveness, shame-proneness, and guilt-proneness. Prison records were examined for criminal history details. We hypothesized that self-forgiveness would correlate negatively with shame-proneness and positively with guilt-proneness. We tentatively hypothesized that this association would be moderated by offense type. Self-forgiveness correlated with both shame- and guilt-proneness in the hypothesized direction. However, neither association was moderated by type of offense. The findings offer further evidence on the salience of self-conscious emotions in forgiving oneself, particularly among incarcerated offender populations. We discuss the implications of the findings for enhancing offender rehabilitation initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This study explores the motivations and challenges of inmates in pursuing a basic education programme in prison. • In terms of data collection, thirty inmates were engaged for focus group interviews. • The findings show that inmates' motivations and challenges in the educational programme were many and varied. • The findings have significant implications for the design and delivery of future correctional education programmes. Literature on correctional education is replete focusing largely on its effectiveness in reducing recidivism and enhancing rehabilitation of offenders. This paper takes a somewhat different look at correctional education with a focus on inmates' motivations for and challenges confronted in participating in a basic education programme. Employing a case study research design, this present study purposively selected 30 young inmates in a Ghanaian correctional facility for focus-group interviews. The study found that the need for better employment, life opportunities and literacy post-release were the main push factors for inmates' participation in the educational programme. With regards challenges, the inmates reported varying experiences from lack of institutional support in learning, lack of teachers coupled with poor teacher attendance, to punishment, which impedes their learning. These findings have significant implications for the design and delivery of future correctional education programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]