An Alford plea is a type of guilty plea in criminal law where a defendant does not admit to the criminal act but acknowledges that the prosecution has enough evidence to likely secure a conviction. The plea allows the defendant to maintain their innocence while still accepting the legal consequences of a guilty plea. It is named after the 1970 U.S. Supreme Court case North Carolina v. Alford.

In an Alford plea:

1. The defendant asserts their innocence or does not admit guilt.
2. The defendant agrees to be treated as guilty for sentencing purposes.
3. The court must determine that the plea is made knowingly, voluntarily, and based on a strong factual basis for guilt.

The plea is typically used when a defendant wishes to avoid the risk of a harsher sentence if convicted at trial. It allows them to accept a plea bargain while not fully admitting to the crime. Despite maintaining innocence, the defendant is convicted and punished just as if they had entered a standard guilty plea.