Assuming that jail is an effective deterrent, people will attempt to avoid it. This disincentive leads to some possible economic pitfalls which come into play after the first court decision. If the court renders a guilty verdict, the defendant must rely on their lawyer to estimate the probability of an appeal's success. Also working against the defendant is the defendant's own fear of jail. It would be interesting to review the number of appellate filings to see if some lawyers were overrepresented.